Iran Likely to Go Nuclear, Experts Tell Senate Panel

Sonni Efron, The Los Angeles Times:

A senior State Department official and international experts gave a Senate panel a pessimistic assessment Thursday of developments in Iran, saying they saw no signs that current disarmament efforts would deter the country's rulers from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

One expert told senators that the "most probable" outcome of the stalemate would be that Tehran would obtain nuclear weapons. READ MORE

"We ought to get used to the idea of thinking about what it would be like to live with an Iranian nuclear bomb," said Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. ...

Geoffrey Kemp, a former National Security Council official now affiliated with the Nixon Center in Washington, said that "there is no way" U.S. or European efforts would prevent a "proud country of 70 million people with abundant resources" from acquiring an atomic bomb if it wants one.

Without "fundamental change in the Iranian leadership, combined with a willingness on the part of the Bush administration to take big risks, the United States is on course for a serious crisis with Iran at some point in the coming months," Kemp said.

If Iran were to develop atomic weapons, the United States would be forced to consider persuading Egypt, Saudi Arabia and possibly other nations in the region to not also develop nuclear weapons, Milhollin said. ...