Home inContext Cairo Speech All But Ignored Iranian Nukes

Cairo Speech All But Ignored Iranian Nukes

Howard Gumnitzky
SOURCE

President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo last week focused on Western-Muslim reconciliation, Israeli-Palestinian peace, and human rights.  However, it failed to address in a serious way the region’s most imminent threat: Iran’s ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons.

In his speech, Obama acknowledged that Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Yet, he hardly discussed Tehran’s defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UN Security Council, which calls for Iran to stop enriching uranium. All the while, recent IAEA reports state that Tehran has expanded its uranium enrichment project, which would only be applicable for the creation of nuclear weapons. According to David Albright of the Institute for Science and InternationalSecurity, Iran already has enough uranium for one atomic bomb.
 
Former CIA director James Woolsey recently observed that Obama’s diplomatic approach has thus far failed to threaten Iran with sanctions or force, which has only emboldened Iran to continue its dangerous nuclear quest.