Iran Could Have Nuclear Bombs in 3 Years
Posted on: Monday, 16 January 2006, 12:00 CST
International Atomic Energy Agency officials say Iran's newly restarted nuclear program could enable the country to have nuclear weapons within three years.
Iran has spent the past 20 years scouring the world to acquire all the means of production and materials necessary for building nuclear weapons, a senior western intelligence officer told The Daily Telegraph. The big intelligence debate now is not whether Iran can build a bomb, but how long it will take them to build it.
Previous estimates of the minimum time Iraq required for producing enriched uranium had ranged from five to 10 years.
Latest reports suggest that Iran has at least 1,000 tons of uranium known as yellowcake, the oxide of uranium that can be enriched to create weapons-grade uranium. It was acquired from Niger and South Africa in the late 1990s, and when processed could provide enough material for five nuclear bombs.
Iran unsealed its Natanz uranium enrichment facility last week in defiance of the Paris Accord of November 2004, in which Iran promised to suspend nuclear activities.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- UN demands Iran stop uranium enrichment work
- Iran Nixes Uranium Enrichment Proposal
- Moscow Rebuffs Rice Effort to Take Iran Nuclear Issue to UN
- Quality of Iran's Nuclear Fuel Sheds Doubt on Weapons Capabilities
- Iran Nuclear Report Due in Three Weeks
- Iran Resumes Uranium Conversion Efforts
- Iran restarts uranium conversion facility
- Iran resumes uranium conversion work
- U.N. Finds Secret Iran Nuclear Documents
- U.N. Discovers Secret Iran Nuclear Papers
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds