Has Time Run Out on Stopping Iran’s Nuclear Program?
In late February, headlines appeared in most of the major news feeds that said Iran only needed to wait about 12 days before it would be able to make a nuclear bomb. Since that time has passed, the world can assume that Iran now has enough uranium 235 to build an atomic bomb.
US officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time – how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb. Earlier last year, various reports said we had one year, it was moved up to two months when Iran reported it had purified uranium to 80%, and now Iran likely has uranium that is 95% or better purity.
Tehran continues to stockpile uranium enriched to up to 60% and install more advanced centrifuges, which enrich uranium more efficiently. The stockpiles of 60% uranium are particularly significant in assessing proliferation risk as material enriched to these levels can be much more quickly enriched to weapons grade.
While US officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material, they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb. This is a foolish statement because making a bomb for a uranium device is very simple. A high school shop class could make one. You put two sub-critical masses of 235 uranium at both ends of a gun barrel, and you slam them together with a high explosive charge. The US military was so confident that the Little Boy model would work, they never bothered to test one before bombing Hiroshima.
When five nations came up with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal in 2015, at most, we could have bought us 10 more years before Iran would become a nuclear power. Because Iran cheated repeatedly on its nuclear production, doomsday has arrived two years early.
Trump pulled out of the JCPOA when it became clear that Iran was just playing cat-and-mouse games with the nuclear inspectors. He placed the country under painful sanctions to slow its nuclear progress. There are so many benefits of being in the nuclear club, no sanction was going to convince Iran to freeze its nuclear program.
Iran doesn’t need nuclear power to supply electricity to its growing population. It has a 100-year supply of oil and natural gas. The fact that uranium is being purified to bomb-grade level shows that peaceful power production cover story was a big fat lie. Building a nuclear power plant is several times more expensive than a fission-fuel electrical plant.
We can live with an Iran that only has a handful of nukes. If Iran continues to ramp up production, it will quickly have enough to threaten its neighbor. Saudi Arabia may start their own nuclear program to provide a counterbalance to Iran.
The only way to save the JCPOA is to have Iran lock up its nuclear weapons and never promise to use them. Once the next conflict comes along, Iran can pull the nukes out of storage and place them on the tips of missiles.
A nuclear Iran is a very big concern for Israel. Iran has regular rallies that call for Israel’s destruction. Iran now has missiles that can reach all parts of the Jewish state. Since Israel is tiny, it would only take a few atomic bombs to wipe it off the map.
Several Israeli prime ministers have promised that Iran will never be a nuclear power. I was looking for the day to come when Israeli jets would fly to Iran and heavily bomb their nuclear facilities. I hoped endlessly that Israel had some master plan in the works, but having reached this stage, it may just be the cold reality that there was never a way to take out centrifuges that are a thousand feet underground in a dozen locations. We must all pray for the protection of God’s people against a foe that seeks Israel’s demise.
Now that Iran has one projected nuclear weapon, it can quickly produce more. Once it has a dozen or more, we would rapidly lose the ability to degrade its nuclear capabilities. The Iranians could launch an atomic strike on any major oil platform in the Middle East, and the price of oil would spike over $300 per barrel.
In the late 90s, we had North Korea’s nuclear program under control. The nation had just suffered a horrible drought, so we arranged for them to get food and fuel in exchange for them to destroy their nuclear reactor. North Korea secretly built a new reactor and used our assistance to allow them the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Today, North Korea has about 60 atomic bombs, they are close to having hydrogen bombs, and they have missiles that can strike anywhere in the US.
If we knew how bad it was going to get during the tribulation, we would probably choose to launch nuclear missiles at rouge nations like Iran and North Korea. Terry wrote on this subject last week, and he had a glimmer of hope that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be able to do something. I think it’s simply too late. The making of a uranium fission bomb is based on 1940s technology. The only thing the Iranians lacked was the passage of time, and I am afraid time has now run out.
“Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?” (Job 21:7).
–Todd
Nuclear Neurosis and Prophetic Prognosis
[Author’s note: I have been asked again by a number of our RR family to address the anxiety building in regard to fears of World War III and all-out nuclear cataclysm. I agree that it is more than worth a look in these days when there seems to be an unstoppable march toward war among the nuclear powers.
But there is Someone who can—and I believe will—stop that march, at least stop such a catastrophic conflict this side of the Rapture of God’s people. The fear of nuclear war is now again on the rise, according to email I’m getting. So I’m reposting the article originally posted May 2 of 2022. My thinking hasn’t changed as I pray on the matters involved and search the Scriptures.]
The diplomats of the world are making noise about Russia more and more looking like it will come to the nuclear option in finally defeating the Ukrainians. Thus, more and more people are becoming nervous that we are headed for World War III.
The worry—the threat—has always been that once a nuclear weapon has been used, things will escalate until all-out atomic war results. All the big nukes on all the tips of the ICBMs and other delivery systems will be unleashed. Planet Earth will be turned into a cinder–or at the very least, it will be made inhabitable.
Russian President/dictator Vladimir Putin, among wanting more control and power in his region of hegemony, wants to secure the wheat and other grains of Ukraine to add to Russia’s considerable grain possession. In this way, he will control the food of the world—at least to a considerable extent.
It is said that, even now, Putin and his top adjutants are hunkered in underground facilities for protection from the nuclear exchanges that are to come. Of course, a lot of things are said these days about a lot of things.
In fact, a lot has been said about a lot of things for a long time. We have heard that economic collapse is coming within days for—literally—years, even decades.
We have been told that the polar ice is melting at a rate that would bring the edges of New York Harbor to downtown Manhattan and up to the first or second floor of the Empire State building within anywhere from twenty to forty years. Actually, the levels in New York Harbor haven’t changed significantly since the warnings were issued.
All of that is not to say nuclear exchanges couldn’t happen. I believe, as do many who believe in God’s Word, that at least one city of the world is going to experience perhaps a nuclear strike. I’m referring, of course, to Damascus, Syria, which will become a heap of rubble within a very short time.
This doesn’t mean necessarily that it will be a nuclear weapon that does the destruction. It might be a meteorite, or even possibly one of the planet’s greatest earthquakes ever.
But Damascus is going to cease being a city, and in a very short moment of time. God’s prophetic Word has said so. It will happen, according to the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 17.
And God’s prophetic Word is the only reliable source to depend upon when it comes to future events. Everything else is just guesswork. The guesswork might be based upon strong evidence, but it’s still guesswork.
God’s prophetic utterances are 100 percent reliable. And it is for this reason that we can examine the nuclear neurosis going around these days under God’s stethoscope in order to get a 100 percent accurate prophetic prognosis about whether all-out nuclear conflict will occur in the days just ahead.
First, we look at a news item from a less-than-reliable source the majority of Americans still go to for news.
Vladimir Putin has been ignoring those in his inner circle who warn of economic ruin if his invasion of Ukraine continues, it has been claimed.
Kremlin officials are becoming “increasingly” worried Vladimir Putin could use limited nuclear weapons as part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials at high levels of government spoke to Bloomberg, claiming they believed the invasion was a “catastrophic” mistake which will set Russia back years.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Kremlin sources said there is no sign Putin will change his mind and faces no direct challenge within the walls of the Kremlin.
He has also repeatedly ignored those who have attempted to warn him of the crushing effects his war could have on Russia’s economic and political future, destroying two decades of growth…
Some said they share fears voiced by the US that Putin will turn to a limited nuclear war, in which two nuclear superpowers engage in a direct confrontation which does not end in either a surrender or massive destruction.
However, US officials have clarified there is “no practical evidence” nuclear weapons will be used imminently.
The CIA said Putin could turn to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon out of “potential desperation” to claim a small victory. (“Putin officials ‘increasingly worried’ he could unleash limited nuclear weapon,” News Yahoo.com UK)
The gist of the news story, in my view, has a specific purpose: to ramp up fear of a nuclear conflict to divert the attention of voters from other issues of political importance to the globalist power brokers. But that is a story for another time. The thing to look at here is that God is completely in control—not the power brokers who can and will eventually (during the Tribulation) unleash war… of the nuclear sort.
So, looking at the matter of the nuclear neurosis through the heavenly stethoscope, we come to Jesus’ words I’ve brought to our attention many times. They speak directly to our day. Jesus’ words do not equivocate on the condition of the world when He will next make His presence known to all on the earth. It will be the Rapture that will occur in times exactly like they were in the time of Lot in Sodom.
There is no indication whatsoever, prior to the catastrophic intervention by Christ, of nuclear war that devastates the planet.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).
— Terry