Analysts warn that Iran crisis carries potential nuclear risks

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN, Associated Press

VIENNA (AP) — In the wake of spiraling tensions between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests, analysts warn that the internal upheaval affecting the Iranian theocracy could carry nuclear proliferation risks.

While in recent days President Donald Trump seemed to have backed away from a military strike on Iran, he called Saturday for an end to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s nearly 40-year reign in Iran. Trump’s comments came in response to Khamenei branding Trump a “criminal” for supporting protesters in Iran, and blamed demonstrators for causing thousands of deaths.

Meanwhile, a U.S. aircraft carrier, which days earlier had been in the South China Sea, passed Singapore overnight to enter the Strait of Malacca — putting it on a route that could bring it to the Middle East.

With those dangers, analysts warn Iran’s nuclear material could be at risk as well.

Nuclear material could fall into the wrong hands

David Albright, a former nuclear weapons inspector in Iraq and founder of the nonprofit Institute for Science and International Security in W...