Panel discusses nuclear threat posed by Iran

Iran's nuclear clock is ticking toward a showdown, some experts believe.

Israel, the United States and other nations must find ways to quell the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction that soon might be in the hands of the Islamic republic's newly elected hard-line president.

That was the message delivered Monday night at a Las Vegas forum of Jewish experts that included Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.; Consul General of Israel Jacob Dayan; and Jack Caravelli, former nonproliferation director for the National Security Council staff.

"Iran has produced enough low-enriched uranium that if it continued the enrichment process ... probably within the next 12 months, Iran will be able to produce one or two atomic devices. That's a scary thought," said Caravelli, a former CIA officer who held the White House National Security Council post from 1996 to 2000. He later served as a senior energy adviser for threat reduction programs.

He said Iran has "marched through this 20-year process" receiving assistance from Pakistan, Russia and North Korea. Without significant action to halt the work, Iran is on the cusp of having nuclear bombs and a missile system to deliver them in the Middle East.

Even with its failing economy and rampant inflation, Iran's nuclear program has not slowed down or suffered for lack of resources, he said.

"We have a bit of time but not a lot," Caravelli said at the forum sponsored by the United Jewish Community and the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.

With President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power after this month's election, although he's unpopular and driving Iran into further depression, Dayan said steps should be taken to include Russia in a global effort at keeping Iran a non-nuclear state.

Even other Arab countries in the region fear what Ahmadinejad could do with a small but capable nuclear force, he said.

Berkley, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, said Ahmadinejad is "not exactly what we would consider the representative of democracy and freedom throughout the world."

"We need to be very, very careful here," she said. "This is a man who reveres the supreme ayatollah. This is a man who wants to continue the nuclear program and move toward weaponizing nuclear material in Iran. And this is a man who refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist."

Berkley said peace loving nations need to agree to pressure Iran to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons by cutting off its access to refined petroleum products.

"A nuclear Iran is unacceptable to Israel. It is unacceptable to the United States of America. A nuclear Iran is unacceptable to me," she said to the applause of some 300 people who attended the forum at the Adelson Educational Campus.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.