State Dept Iran Could Build Nukes in Days
Newsmax
Iran could build a nuclear weapon within "days" once it completes
plans to beef up its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, a State Department
official said Wednesday.
"Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges," Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days."
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, appeared on Iran's state-run TV network to announce plans for "industrial scale" uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at the Natanz facility, according to the Associated Press.
Rademaker, whose stunning "nukes-in-days" prediction was first reported by Bloomberg News, offered his comments in reaction to Saeedi's announcement.
Iran's first successful attempt
to enrich uranium, announced Tuesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was
accomplished with just 164 centrifuges.
While it's not clear how quickly Iran could reach the 50,000 centrifuge mark, there are indications that the rogue nation is already much closer than indicated by Tuesday's announcement.
Last August, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002, told the Associated Press that Iran has already manufactured thousands of centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade.
"4,000 centrifuge machines have not been declared to the IAEA," Alireza Jafarzadeh said. "And the regime has kept the production of these machines hidden from the inspectors while the negotiations with the European Union have been going on over the past 21 months."
In Feb. 2003, UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei visited Natanz. He reported that in a nearby building, workers were assembling parts for thousands of centrifuges.
The Natanz facility is buried 75 feet underground and has a reinforced concrete roof, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
The Current Situation in Iran
As from articles that have been posted on this website since
last summer we have discussed this situation from the standpoint of bible
prophecy, revelation we have received from God and new events confirming what
the Lord has spoken.
This morning there was an article stating that Iran could
have a functioning nuclear bomb in 16 days,
As we have stated before it is our belief that the president
of Iran is trying to force the appearance of the 12th Imam -- all of this is
availible to read in our news aricle archieves
I have received no specific word
of the Lord but I can tell you that if Iran gets that missile off it will not
hit Israel. I base that on what is written in the book of Revelation
Revelation 9:1-11 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a
star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the
bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out
of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke
locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the
earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass
of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given
that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months:
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And
in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to
die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like
unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns
like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the
hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had
breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was
as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails
like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was
to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of
the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the
Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
In the book of Enoch the binding
of this fallen angel and his being sealed in a pit in chains is discussed and
even the location of this pit that was sealed over give. It is in Gaza on the
border of the desert. This could well be a nuclear strike and the smoke could
well be the plume of radiation from the strike if this indeed occurs we can
start counting till the appearance of the 12th Imam and the false prophet
I feel though optimistic in the
spirit that this is not yet. That Iran's nuclear bid will fail because they
peaked out too early. My sense is -- (I
repeat I have no word from the Lord) at a point 15 years 30 years from now when
the EU is either on the verge of becoming a Muslim state or has already fallen
into Great Tribulation – if Iran would have peaked out at that time with these
nukes -- the countdown to the appearing of the antichrist would be on,