Iran Has Enough Enriched Uranium for Two Weapons

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said today that the U.S. believes Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to produce two nuclear weapons that could be ready for delivery within two years.

“We think they have enough low-enriched uranium right now for two weapons,” Panetta said on ABC’s “This Week” program. “They do have to enrich it fully in order to get there. It would probably take a year to get there, probably another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable.”

Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes such as power generation and has rebuffed United Nations Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment. The Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Iran on June 9, backed by Russia and China, while the U.S. Congress approved sanctions last week.

Congress approved legislation to punish U.S. companies that sell gasoline to Iran and block banks that do business with the regime from using the U.S. financial system in order to pressure Iran to scale back a program that may be intended to build a nuclear weapon.

Panetta said it’s important that China and Russia agreed to the UN sanctions. He said the sanctions passed by Congress “will have some additional impact” that could weaken the Tehran government and undermine the economy.

“They clearly are developing their nuclear capability and that raises concerns,” Panetta said. “It raises concerns about, you know, just exactly what are their intentions and where they intend to go.”

Debate Over Proceeding

Panetta said Iran “continue to work on designs” to turn their capability into weapons systems, and that “there is a continuing debate right now” within Iran “as to whether or not they ought to proceed with the bomb.”

Asked how likely an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities within two years was, Panetta said Israeli officials “feel more strongly that Iran has already made the decision to proceed with the bomb.”

He said Israel, with which the U.S. shares intelligence on Iran, was aware that sanctions would have an impact. “They’re willing to give us the room to try to change Iran diplomatically and culturally and politically as opposed to changing them militarily.”

Group of Eight leaders expect Israel may decide to take action against Iran out of concern that the country is building nuclear weapons, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday.

Since “Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power, the members of the G-8 are worried, and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively,” Berlusconi told reporters in Huntsville, Ontario, after a two- day meeting with other G-8 leaders. He didn’t elaborate.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev in Jerusalem declined to comment on the Panetta remarks, while a call to the mobile phone of Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast in Tehran was not immediately answered.

--With assistance from Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv, Ali Sheikholeslami in London and Tony Czuczka in Toronto. Editors: Bill Schmick, Mark Rohner