Iran's nuclear ambitions

 The Federalist Wire:

As high-stakes talks between the United States and Iran loom this weekend, a prominent Washington, D.C.-based research group has dropped a bombshell report that paints a chilling picture of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a key player in tracking Iran’s shadowy nuclear weapons program, released its latest findings under the stark title, “The Iran Threat Geiger Counter: Extreme Danger Grows.” The message is clear: Iran’s atomic arsenal is teetering on the edge of a terrifying breakthrough.

The report pulls no punches, stating, “Since February 2024, the date of its last report, the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program has worsened significantly.” It points to a perfect storm of developments: Iran’s enhanced ability to craft nuclear weapons, shrinking timelines to assemble them, and a troubling shift in domestic chatter that increasingly embraces the idea of going nuclear.

The study suggests that Iran’s setbacks in regional conflicts—particularly its losing battle against Israel and its allies—might be pushing Tehran closer to a fateful decision.

“Major negative factors include Iran’s greater nuclear weapon capabilities, its shorter time frames to build nuclear weapons, and the growing normalization of internal Iranian discussions favoring building nuclear weapons,” the report explains.

It adds that the escalating chaos in the Middle East, where Iran and its proxies are clashing with Israel, is fueling a perception—real or not—that Tehran is gearing up to cross the nuclear threshold.

President Donald Trump weighed in on Wednesday, sounding the alarm with characteristic urgency. “We have a little time, but we don’t have much time, because we’re not going to let them have a nuclear weapon. We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
...

Iran remains a hostile power as long as the Islamic religious bigots are in charge.  It has been a threat ever since the religious bigots overthrew the Shah. The religious bigots are especially hostile to the Jewish state of Israel.  Israel does have a military that is capable of responding to an Iranian attack.  The US would also likely to respond to such an attack against Israel.