Replies

"Possible but with Iranian uranium enrichment currently at about 3.5% which is far less than the ~90% needed for bomb making, might the current noise be nothing more than an attempt to drive oil prices up and hurt the president politically this fall?"
You could be right. Surely some of the top key mullahs and their president Ahmadinejah plot to do anything that makes them look powerful in the eyes of some of their less educated people and at the same time continue to use their leverage with the Russians to do whatever damage they can do regarding the west's economies. Unless they actually have a fully operational large cascade centrifuge system in operation in some underground facility presently, they are perhaps 3/4 plus years away from having enough U235 to make a low yield nuclear weapon.
And for all we know, they may have nothing, other then the little 164 unit and it is only working in a purely lab type environment, yielding only a few grams of 90% U235.

You could be right. Surely some of the top key mullahs and their president Ahmadinejah plot to do anything that makes them look powerful in the eyes of some of their less educated people and at the same time continue to use their leverage with the Russians to do whatever damage they can do regarding the west's economies. Unless they actually have a fully operational large cascade centrifuge system in operation in some underground facility presently, they are perhaps 3/4 plus years away from having enough U235 to make a low yield nuclear weapon. And for all we know, they may have nothing, other then the little 164 unit and it is only working in a purely lab type environment, yielding only a few grams of 90% U235.

The best way for Iran to protect its nuclear weapons program is for the Democrats to take control of Congress this fall. With the US economy strong, gas prices are what's primarily working against Bush/Republican job approval ratings. A Congress controlled by the Democrats effectively ends the Bush presidency. As such, the best way for Iran to protect it's nuclear weapons program is to ratchet up the rhetoric while her powerful friends aka China and Russia stall US efforts in the UN. The iranian rhetoric drives up oil prices and with higher oil prices come lower Bush/Republican approval numbers going into the November elections.