WORLD ROUNDUPWhat the United States Can Learn from China | Iran Signals a Major Boost in Nuclear Program at Key Site | Gaza Needs New Leadership to Keep Hamas Out, and more
· Iran Signals a Major Boost in Nuclear Program at Key Site
Hundreds of new centrifuges would triple Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity at a deeply buried underground nuclear facility
· Israeli Military Spokesman: Gaza Needs New Leadership to Keep Hamas Out
Israel cannot defeat Hamas without installing a new administration in Gaza, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman said on Wednesday
· French Election Becomes ‘Nightmare’ for Nation’s Jews
An attack on a 12-year-old Jewish girl is inflaming an already tense and divisive situation
· China Tests U.S. Red Lines with Attacks on Philippine Vessels
The viability of the rules-based order is at stake in the South China Sea
· What the United States Can Learn from China
Amid China’s rise, Americans should ask what Beijing is doing right—and what they’re doing wrong
Iran Signals a Major Boost in Nuclear Program at Key Site (Joby Warrick, Washington Post)
A major expansion underway inside Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear facility could soon triple the site’s production of enriched uranium and give Tehran new options for quickly assembling a nuclear arsenal if it chooses to, according to confidential documents and analysis by weapons experts.
Inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed new construction activity inside the Fordow enrichment plant, just days after Tehran formally notified the nuclear watchdog of plans for a substantial upgrade at the underground facility built inside a mountain in north-central Iran.
Iran also disclosed plans for expanding production at its main enrichment plant near the city of Natanz. Both moves are certain to escalate tensions with Western governments and spur fears that Tehran is moving briskly toward becoming a threshold nuclear power, capable of making nuclear bombs rapidly if its leaders decide to do so.
At Fordow alone, the expansion could allow Iran to accumulate several bombs’ worth of nuclear fuel every month, according to a technical analysis provided to The Washington Post. Though it is the smaller of Iran’s two uranium enrichment facilities, Fordow is regarded as particularly significant because its subterranean setting makes it nearly invulnerable to airstrikes.
Israeli Military Spokesman: Gaza Needs New Leadership to Keep Hamas Out (New York Times)
Israel cannot defeat Hamas without installing a new administration in Gaza, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman said on Wednesday, reflecting frustration among the country’s security brass over the Israeli government’s failure to advance a postwar alternative to Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
“The idea that it is possible to destroy Hamas, to make Hamas vanish — that is throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast interview with Israel’s Channel 13. “If we do not bring something else to Gaza, at the end of the day, we will get Hamas.”
His comments seem to signal a rare, open dispute between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly promised the Israeli public “absolute victory” over the Palestinian armed group, vowing that the war would not end until Israel destroys Hamas’s military and government.
