Vehemently discounting the latest national intelligence estimates that Iran won’t develop nuclear weapons for 10 years, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) says, “The Israelis count it as one, and I’d say two.” Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference last week, Weldon, who is chairman of the House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, also said the Pentagon should stop chasing meaningless metrics. Iran is working on ever-longer-range missiles, but could easily put a shorter range Shahab on a cargo ship laying off the East coast today. Setting off a low-yield nuke high in the atmosphere would cause an electromagnetic pulse that would bring the US “to its knees,” he charged. The defense establishment needs to pay more attention to the ways Iran could use ad-hoc, improvised ways to cause America big problems, Weldon said. “They’re not stupid,” he said. “They read.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
