The Bomb and the Bombers!
June 22, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
This mornings Blog highlighted the arrival of reinforcing American Naval Carrier Strike Forces in the waters surrounding the Middle East.
We now have the largest armada of American vessels in these waters ever recorded, according to the DEBKAfile article on this morning’s Blog.
The American Air Forces have been conducting training exercises with the Israeli Air Forces (IAF) for some time.
Occasional reports of joint staging exercises in the Negev between Israeli Air Bases and American Carrier Forces have surfaced from time to time.
The production of a deterrent nuclear arsenal of numerous warheads mounted on Shihab missiles, spaced apart across Iran,
will not occur in the immediate future.
So, at the present time, I suspect a lot of what is going on is sword rattling, at least for the time being. I guesstimate the time of the beginning of the last three and one-half years of the great tribulation period as being at some point in time between 2008 and the end of 2012, with the most likely time of its beginning occurring during 2011 or 2012. This is a guess on my part, no more, and no less, but I am certain this is not a far distant event.
The two articles, which follow, are about the one making the bomb, and the bombers wanting to stop it from being created.
Begin Article 1
Iran enriches 100 kg. of uranium
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
June 22, 2007
Iran has produced 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of enriched uranium, the country’s interi or minister was quoted Friday as saying about the controversial process that can make fuel f
or civilian energy or fissile material for a bomb.
Experts say that about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of enriched uranium would be needed for one bomb.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will try to get Iran’s agreement on resuming talks over its nuclear program when he meets Teheran’s nuclear negotiator over the weekend, an EU official said Friday.
“Our intention is to continue exploring the possibility of launching formal negotiations,” Solana’s spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.
In Iran, the semiofficial ISNA news agency carried comments by Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the interior minister, who said his country now has 3,000 hooked-up centrifuges actively enriching uranium.
“In the first steps, we were halted and they (the West) did not allow our only 20 centrifuge machines to work,” Pourmohammadi said. “But right now, 3,000 of the machines have been operational and more than 100 kilograms of enriched uranium has been ready and stored.”
Pormohammadi also said that more than 150 metric tons of primary materials of uranium gas have been stored in the Iranian nuclear facilities.
Centrifuge machines spin uranium hexafluoride gas and convert it into enriched
uranium.
Pourmohammadi did not elaborate on the percentage of enrichment of the stored enriched uranium.
The interior minister has no direct role in Iran’s disputed nuclear program and Iranian nuclear officials were not available Friday to comment on the figure he gave.
Solana is due to meet Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, in Lisbon on Saturday and possibly on Sunday.
“We need an agreed platform so that negotiations can start. At the moment we don’t have this,” Gallach said.
“They have to comply with UN resolutions,” she said.
Begin Article 2
Report: IAF preparing for Iran strike
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST
June 22, 2007
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets.
The training program has been taking place for some time but has only been released for publication Friday, the Ma’ariv daily reported.
Intelligence assessments received by the defense establishment concur that once Iran passes the point of no return in its nuclear efforts, the entire Middle East will enter a frantic nuclear armament race.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are expected to take the lead should such a scenario become reality.
At the end of 2007 the US and Israel are expected to hold a joint assessment to ascertain the influence of economic sanctions against Iran.
A new package of upgraded sanctions prepared jointly by Israel and the US, includes exerting pressure on European governments to cancel US $22 billion in loan guarantees given annually to European companies trading with Iran.
The new package also includes sanctions against banks working with Iran, non-renewal of oil infrastructure in Iran and a long series of economic actions that are meant to seriously hurt the Iranian economy.
Following the end-of-year assessment, Washington will decide how to move forward in the struggle against Iran’ s nuclear race.
Members of the international community – the US and Israel leading – are convinced that Iran’s race to enrich uranium is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic, on its side, insists it is looking for energy sources that would be an alternative to fossil fuels.
Iran has so far remained defiant in face of the demands voiced by the international community that it make its nuclear program transparent to UN-mandated monitoring.
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