Now what he really meant to say was... (Reuters/Adrees Latif)
Quartz: Did Iran’s president just admit that it has been pursuing nuclear weapons?
Something fascinating just came over the transom from Tehran: In an interview to the state-owned news service IRNA, president Hassan Rouhani threatened that “if the other side breaches the deal, we will go back to the old path, stronger than what they can imagine.”
We can set aside the belligerent tone here: Bluster and bullying have long been the Tehran regime’s stock-in-trade. But it’s worth spending a few minutes parsing Rouhani’s words. The “other side” is the collection of world powers, known as the P5+1, that are currently negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program. (They’ve just extended the deadline by a week, to July 7.) The “deal” is a long-sought bargain that would allow the regime in Tehran to pursue peaceful nuclear technology while the world lifts economic sanctions on Iran.
Update: Iran Threatens to Go Nuclear If Talks Fail -- Washington Free Beacon
WNU Editor: Everyone believes that Iran was (and is) pursuing a nuclear weapons program .... what no one knows for sure is on how committed they are to it, and what are the short/medium/and long term goals for their program ... i.e. to have a deliverable arsenal of nuclear weapons, a few nuclear weapons, just the knowledge and resources to complete a bomb quickly if they should decide to go down that route, or to have the infrastructure to produce enriched nuclear material with an option to pursue a weapons program in the future. What's my take .... I have always believed that Iran wants something along the lines of what India and Pakistan now presently have .... about a hundred nuclear weapons that can be deployed quickly and delivered when the order is given. This agreement may delay their long term objectives .... but I believe that they are committed to it, and this is just a means to eventually achieve their overall strategy.