Iran To Complete Nuclear R&D By March

Iran will complete its nuclear research and development work by March 2007, says Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

Tehran says it will expand its atomic work by installing 3,000 centrifuges, devices used to enrich uranium. Experts say with 3,000 centrifuges in place, Tehran could make enough material for at least one warhead a year.

Notwithstanding that Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on July 1, 1968 and ratified the treaty 19 months later, the U.S., France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom have accused Iran of a clandestine intention to develop nuclear weapons.

A 2005 assessment by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a prestigious London, U.K.-based think tank, concluded "If Iran threw caution to the wind, and sought a nuclear weapon capability as quickly as possible without regard for international reaction, it might be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon by the end of this decade, assuming no technical problems. More plausible development programs Iran could choose to follow would take over a decade."

The future U.S. Secretary of State for Defense, Robert Gates, in a hearing in front of the Senate Wednesday, said that it was impossible to rule out the possibility of an Iranian nuclear attack against Israel. "If Teheran acquires a nuclear bomb, no-one can guarantee that it will not be used to wipe Israel off the face of the map (the words of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)", he said.

Arutz Sheva
12.07.2006