Iran's secret uranium plant

What happened

President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France said on Friday that Iran had built a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel and had hidden the operation from international weapons inspectors for years. (The New York Times)

What the commentators said

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Terrific, said Jennifer Rubin in Commentary. So "while Obama was sending love letters to the Iranian regime and doing nothing to support the Iranian uprising, he knew of the secret facility that will be operational within a year?" The administration has some explaining to do, like why he "knew this for months and did not act with urgency."

The previous administration is the one who has to answer for this, said Taylor Marsh in her blog. "This secret enrichment happened under George W. Bush’s nose, while he and his team were too busy ostracizing Iran into an 'axis of evil,' instead of trying to actually engage them." Another approach might not have made any difference, "but let’s be clear that the Republican idea of sitting Iran in the world corner sure as hell didn’t work."

The important thing is not to panic, said Adam Serwer in The American Prospect. "The Obama administration seems to have played this one pretty well. American intelligence appears to have known about the plant for some time, which was part of the reason Iran came forward in the first place. By improving relations with Russia by dismantling the missile shield and making nuclear non-proliferation a focus of the G-20 summit, the president has succeeded in putting the U.S. on high ground diplomatically and embarrassing Iran."