Washington, December 21: The Pentagon has played down remarks by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who had claimed Iran could make an atomic weapon in one year.
In an interview with CBS News aired on Monday, Panetta said, “It would be sometime in around a year they (Iran) would be able to do it (build a nuclear weapon),” threatening that Washington will take every step “necessary” to stop Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Perhaps a little less. The one proviso is if they have a hidden facility somewhere in Iran,” he said, adding, “If they proceed and we get intelligence that they’re proceeding in developing a nuclear weapon, then we will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it.”
Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Panetta was speaking “hypothetically” and that the US defense secretary was not suggesting there was new intelligence pointing to any secret facilities.
“Should they (Iranians) make a decision to move to highly enriched uranium, those inspectors would be able to readily detect it… And we would have at that point, plenty of time to react on our own,” Kirby said.
The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran’s nuclear program may consist of a covert military agenda, a claim Tehran has strongly rejected.
Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities but has never found any solid evidence indicating that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been geared up for nuclear weapons production.
——Agencies