Could Iran strike the continental United States in five years with a nuclear-tipped ICBM?
• Four Questions for Dr. Walid Phares on the Iranian Threat Report Lt. Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr.: A new US Defense Department report was submitted to Congress, Monday, detailing “near-term and longer-term threats posed by Iran, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its desire to extend its influence in the Middle East.” But the line causing the most buzz is “With sufficient foreign assistance, Iran could probably develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] capable of reaching the United States by 2015.” Could Iran strike the continental United States in five years with a nuclear-tipped ICBM? We ask Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad. Phares has served both on the National Security Council’s advisory task force on nuclear terrorism (2006-2007) and as an adviser to the Anti-Terrorism Caucus of the US House of Representativ
