Why not? Iran already got precisely the right read on Western resolve when we let them blow off that September deadline. What’s this going to do? Give the impression of appeasement?
The consequences of letting the September deadline pass without demonstrating a decisive response is clearly not understood in Western capitals. Iran will carefully calibrate its next moves on the basis of how it believes the U.S. and its allies will act in the weeks ahead. Up until now, President Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Iranian leadership with carefully-crafted public messages and private letters have elicited the opposite response of what he intended… What might have been seen in Washington as a magnanimous gesture was perceived in Tehran as a sign of reduced Western resolve.
And so this morning – somehow knowing that their cover was blown – the mullahs went ahead and let slip a second previously undisclosed nuke facility. This one’s not big enough to be helpful with energy generation. But if you were intent on, say, building a nuclear bomb – if that was your intention then it’s quite useful.
This is the first facility out of the 10-15 secret ones that the 2007 NIE said Iran probably had. It’s the third one they’ve been caught lying about. So in response we’ve issued a strong statement about how we’re going to give them until December to explain themselves. Because maybe this whole thing is just a giant misunderstanding!
Obama called “disturbing information” — a secret uranium enrichment facility Western intelligence agencies have discovered near Qom, 97 miles southwest of Tehran. Calling the news “a challenge made to the entire international community,” President Sarkozy said that “if by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken.” Brown said the “level of deception by the Iranian government and the scale of what we believe is the breach of international commitments will shock and anger the whole international community and it will harden our resolve…We will not let this matter rest.
So disturbed was Obama, per Tapper, that he began to experience “great and increasing doubts about the strictly peaceful nature” of Iran’s nuke program. You know, they might actually be up to something!
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* What Happened to the U.S. Deadline on Iran? [Dore Gold]
* Iran Reveals Existence of Second Uranium Enrichment Plant [WaPo]
* Clenched With A Second Secret Nuke Facility [Is Iran's Fist Still Clenched?]
* Clenched With A Secret Facility Big Enough To Make A Bomb But Not To Power A Reactor [Is Iran's Fist Still Clenched?]
* Flashback: Clenched With 10-15 Secret Nuke Facilities According To The 2007 NIE [Is Iran's Fist Still Clenched?]
* Leaders Warn Iran Over Nuclear Site [NYT]
* Obama, Brown, Sarkozy Issue Strong Statement to Tehran [Tapper / ABC News]
* Sr. admin official says he expectes POTUS [@jaketapper]
Previously:
* UAE Seizes North Korean Arms Ship Bound For Iran, Pro-Engagement Foreign Policy Experts Perplexed
* IAEA Hiding Report Proving Iranian Nuke Development, Insisting That There’s “No Evidence” Of Weaponization
* One Jerusalem Conference Call With Dore Gold: The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West [Video]
