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Iran Is Ready to Build an N-Bomb, Waiting for the Ayatollah's Order

[Times-UK] James Hider, Richard Beeston, and Michael Evans - Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources say. A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate two years ago concluded that Iran had ended its nuclear arms research program in 2003 because of the threat from the American invasion of Iraq. But intelligence sources say Tehran halted the research because it had achieved its aim - to find a way of detonating a warhead that could be launched on its long-range Shehab-3 missiles. They said that, should Ayatollah Khamenei approve the building, it would take six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead of a nuclear device. An Israeli official said that Iran had poured billions of dollars over three decades into a two-pronged "master plan" to build a nuclear bomb. He said that Iran had enriched 1,010kg of uranium to 3.9%, which would be sufficient for 30kg of highly enriched uranium at 95%. About 30kg is needed to build one bomb.
2009-08-03 06:00:00
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