Concerns are growing among Western leaders that Iran could deploy a radioactive “dirty bomb” in its confrontation with Israel, a move that might trigger direct U.S. military involvement, according to the chief foreign affairs commentator at the Financial Times.
Israel launched a sweeping aerial assault on Iranian territory early Friday, targeting senior military personnel and key sites tied to Iran’s missile and nuclear infrastructure. Israeli officials described the campaign as merely a first step, raising fears of a broader regional war between the longtime foes.
Since the initial strikes, Israel and Iran have continued to trade aerial attacks.
American and Israeli intelligence sources are increasingly concerned about Iran’s next steps, particularly if its leadership comes to believe they are losing a conventional battle. While Iran is not yet believed to possess a functioning nuclear bomb, it has amassed enough enriched uranium to cause catastrophic harm.
“Iran could choose to demonstrate a crude nuclear weapon to try to shock Israel into ending the war,” Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman wrote in a piece published Tuesday.
“Another possibility is that it could actually set off a ‘dirty bomb’ — which uses conventional explosives to scatter radioactive material. The kind of scenario that experts worry about would be the use of a ship to detonate a device near the Israeli port of Haifa.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran possesses a significant quantity of uranium enriched to the 60% level.
Although 90% enrichment is typically necessary to build a nuclear warhead — a process Tehran could potentially accomplish in a matter of days — Rachman noted that the process of weaponization itself takes more time.
Even so, 60% enrichment could be sufficient for assembling a rudimentary nuclear device.
“That kind of weapon would be suitable for ‘delivery by a crude delivery system such as an aircraft, shipping container, or truck, sufficient to establish Iran as a nuclear power,’” Rachman noted. He added that some American officials expect the U.S. to escalate its involvement by participating in a follow-up bombing campaign aimed at Iran’s deeply buried Fordow enrichment facility to permanently cripple the regime’s nuclear capabilities.
Executing that mission would likely require specialized American munitions.
Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of any airstrike strategy, saying even U.S. efforts “cannot delay Iran’s arrival at nuclear weapons by more than a few months.”
He further argued that the only surefire way to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms is for the U.S. and Israel “to declare war against the regime itself until it is brought down.”

{Matzav.com}