Iran Nuke Update

It Just Gets Better
Iran has enough nuclear material for a single bomb – IAEA
DEBKAfile Special Report

November 20, 2008, 5:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

This is the conclusion contained in the report leaked by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna Wednesday, Nov. 19, for submission to the agency’s board Nov. 27-28. This alarming development is headlined by the New York Times and Bloomberg website Nov. 20, but does not rate Israeli official comment or a mention in the its media.

In the last few weeks, Iran has doubled or even trebled the pace of its uranium enrichment process. Nuclear watchdog sources report that in October, Iran was known to have accumulated 480 kilos of low grade 5 percent enriched uranium, a short step from “break-out” to weapons grade (90 percent) material.

By mid-November, the Iranians topped this up to 630 kilos, adding 150 kilos in six weeks. By the end of 2009, Iran will have enough enriched uranium for 2-3 nuclear bombs.

Tehran has thus jumped three months ahead of US and Israeli intelligence estimated timeline of February 2009 as the timeline for a sufficiency of enriched uranium to build a bomb. The experts ask how long until Iran has the know-how for further purifying the fuel and perfecting the design for an atomic warhead. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Tehran acquired this technology some years ago from the Pakistani nuclear smuggler Dr. A.Q. Khan.