Iran ups nuclear ante

Iran’s nuclear chief says the country will begin enriching uranium to twenty percent strength ? up from 3.5 percent, and build ten new nuclear facilities over the next year. While the construction of that many facilities in one year is probably not achievable, and while it takes ninety percent enrichment to make a nuclear bomb, the reaction from the United States and France was swift and harsh: The two nations called for even more sanctions on Iran. We ask how great the threat of a nuclear Iran really is.

Hamid Dabashi is a professor of Iranian Studies at Columbia University. Hooman Majd is a journalist and author of “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran.” Plus, what does it mean that China has replaced the European Union as Iran’s biggest trading partner?