Defense Secretary on Iran

January 30, 2012

Dear Members and Friends,

 

The question that our nation, our President and our Congress must ask is do we have enough missile defense capability to protect our homeland, our troops in the Persian Gulf region, Israel and our allies from an Iranian nuclear weapon in two to three years?

 

Last night in an interview with 60 Minutes, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned against Iran’s accelerated nuclear program, warning that the country could have a nuclear weapon and the vehicle to deliver it within two years.

 

Panetta:  “The United States, and the president’s made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us. And it’s a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here. If we have to do it, we will do it…

 

If they proceed and we get intelligence that they’re proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon then we will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it.

 

Interviewer: Including military steps?

 

Panetta: There are no options that are off the table…

The consensus is that, if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon.”

 

Click here for the full interview with Secretary Panetta.  His statements on Iran begin at the 3-minute mark.

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Curtis Stiles - Chief of Staff