Drudge Report's Iran Nuke Claims False

Druge headline: "Iran 'Months Away' from a Nuke"

The Drudge Report is linking to a story from today's Jerusalem Post that says Iran is "only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb". This allegation is based on an interview the British paper The Independent conducted with the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei.

Here is a section of The Independent's article:

"Although IAEA officials have said it would take at least two years for Natanz to become fully operational, Mr ElBaradei believes that once the facility is up and running, the Iranians could be "a few months" away from a nuclear weapon. "That's why there is the concern of the international community about Iran," he said, "because lots of people feel it could be a dual purpose programme".

Did he believe the Iranians were building a nuclear weapon? "The jury's out," he said. "It's difficult to read their intention. We're still going through the programme to make sure it's all for peaceful purposes." [emphasis added]

From the Jerusalem Post:

"IAEA chairman Muhammad ElBaradei on Monday confirmed Israel's assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb. "

El Baradei's comments have been spun to favor the Israeli push to prevent Iran from "going nuclear". But if the Iranians are, as they say they are, only developing nuclear power this should not be a concern of the international community. The drumbeat for war in Iran has been sounded, and both Netanyahu and Sharon have made clear that Israel will pre-emptively strike Iran with the least provocation such as the country struck the Iraqi Osirak power plant in 1981.

All of this should sound hauntingly familiar as it models the run-up to the war with Iraq, and a history of Israeli influence on American foreign policy.

Read Dore Gold's refutation here. (Note: This article was written on June 3, 2004, after the US had already toppled Hussein, thus allowing Gold to fluff the "importance of Iraq" in terms of Israeli security. An interesting section is The Real Long-Term Threat to Israel: Iran. Also, Gold wrote Only Buffer Zones Can Protect Israel in the February 27, 2002, edition of the New York Times where he identifies Iran merely as a supplier of weaponry to the Palestinians, but Iraq as an aggressor on the battlefield. Who's more of a threat? The guy who sells the gun, or the one who shoots it at you?)

Don't forget that the Israelis launched an unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 while she was sailing in international waters.

12/3/05: Iran launches media campaign to inform Western public opinion on nuclear program.
12/5/05: Iran will not be diverted from its peaceful path.