As Iranian Leader Woos The World, Netanyahu's Red Line Fades To Black
Israeli officials concerned that Netanyahu’s scornful attitude to Rohani could harm efforts to influence negotiations with Iran.
By Barak Ravid | Sep. 24, 2013 |
A year after his melodramatic speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York regarding Iran’s nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns there next week, facing the possibility that recent changes in Teheran’s nuclear program have made the red line he drew then less relevant.
Netanyahu’s red line focused on the uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent that Iran possessed, much of it enriched at an underground facility in Fordo. The Iranians have made great efforts to remain below the 250 kilogram threshold of 20 percent enriched uranium, after Netanyahu threatened military action if that line was crossed.
At first Netanyahu’s red line was a success story. The Iranians slowed their pace of enriching uranium to 20 percent and increased the conversion rate of this type of uranium into nuclear fuel. Iran today has 170 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent. In recent months, however, the Iranians have found a way to circumvent Netanyahu’s red line.
By increasing the number of centrifuges and installing a thousand new advanced ones, the Iranians can now increase the pace of their uranium enrichment by four or even five times. This new technology allows the Iranians to skip the intermediate step of enrichment to 20% and to enrich uranium directly and rapidly from a low level of 3.5 percent to 90 percent, which is weapon-grade level. It’s not for nothing that the Iranians have been hinting that they’re willing to be flexible regarding their 20 percent enrichment and about dismantling the facility at Fordo.
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