U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed this week Iran has not decided to develop a nuclear weapon and that it would be unable to do so secretly. Testifying before the Senate, Clapper said Iran could not divert safeguarded material to produce weapons-grade uranium without it being discovered. Despite Clapper’s statements, President Obama raised the prospect of Iran developing a nuclear weapon during an interview Thursday with an Israeli television station ahead of his visit to Israel next week.
President Obama: “There’s a window, not an infinite period of time, but a window of time where we can resolve this diplomatically. And that is in all of our interests — Israel, the United States, the world and Iran’s — if we can resolve this diplomatically. Now, we think that it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don’t want to cut it too close. And what we’re going to be doing is to continue to engage internationally with Iran, understanding that we’ve set up the toughest sanctions ever. It’s having a significant effect.”
