Iran must be coaxed or forced to surrender its nuclear program, according to a special report from The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.
Diplomacy or a campaign of deterrence could be used to push Iran to surrender its illicit nuclear materials program, which many Western observers fear will be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
But if those efforts fail, then military action must be employed, the report stated.
“Iran is now on the brink of attaining a nuclear weapons capability,” the report warned.
One U.S. estimate is that Iran might produce a nuclear weapon sometime between next year and 2015.
“While estimates vary, it is clear that the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism soon will be able to build one of the world’s most terrifying weapons,” the report continued.
Iran has supplied thousands of rockets and missiles to terrorists such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which fire the weapons into Israel, where they destroy homes and buildings, and maim and kill civilians.
The report said the United States cannot dither here, but must act decisively.
“The answer is that the U.S. should not wait to find out” what Iran will do next, the report states.
“Washington must take stronger actions now to prevent a future disaster from unfolding,” the report noted. Otherwise, the Middle East will turn into a nuclear powderkeg.
If Iran builds atomic bombs, “the U.S. will be dealing not just with a nuclear Iran, but with a potential cascade of nuclear powers in the Middle East.”
Iran already possesses advanced missile technology. It launched a satellite that half an hour later was over the United States, proving mastery of the technology required to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Further, Iran has medium-range missiles able to strike Israel, which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said should be wiped from the map.
Iranians will go to the polls Friday to decide whether to reelect Ahmadinejad, or to oust him.