Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will Have Nuclear Bomb by 2009

A technician works in the control room at the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, 450 km south of Tehran, February 3, 2007. Russia’s leading nuclear scientist said on Monday that it was just a question of time before Iran developed a nuclear weapon and it should be stopped.

ABC News: Iran Nuclear Bomb Could Be Possible by 2009

Iran has more than tripled its ability to produce enriched uranium in the last three months, adding some 1,000 centrifuges which are used to separate radioactive particles from the raw material.

The development means Iran could have enough material for a nuclear bomb by 2009, sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News.

The sources say the unexpected expansion is taking place at Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant outside the city of Natanz, in a hardened facility 70 feet underground.

And this is a surprise?

Last year Israeli Defense estimates said that Iran’s development of a nuclear bomb was imminent – within a year or so.

Why in the hell do you think they have been stalling with meaningless negotiations at the United Nations and G-8?

In the meantime, a Russian scientist has expressed concern:

Reuters: Russian expert says Iran can make nuclear weapons

Russia’s leading nuclear scientist said on Monday that it was just a question of time before Iran developed a nuclear weapon and it should be stopped.

The Islamic republic, facing a showdown with the United States over its nuclear ambitions, clearly has the know-how to make atomic weapons, said Yevgeny Velikhov, a leading physicist and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“From a scientific point of view of course they could create nuclear weapons,” Velikhov, president of Russia’s Kurchatov Institute, told reporters. “When they could do it is a more difficult question.”

“If you remember, U.S. scientists expected the Soviet Union would only be able to create a nuclear bomb by around 1954 at the earliest,” he said.

“They were rather surprised when we created one in 1949,” he said with a chuckle. Velikhov trained under Igor Kurchatov, the leader of the Soviet atomic bomb project.

The “NUCLEAR POINT OF NO RETURN” has been reached with Iran.

Will the United States and Israel do anything about it?

Stay tuned as the USS Nimitz sets sail from Malaysia – destination, the Persian Gulf.

A technician at the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, south of Tehran, February 3, 2007. The IAEA is pushing Iran to agree to cameras in its underground nuclear plant within days and Western states are mulling whether to seek a crisis IAEA meeting if Tehran refuses, diplomats said.

Cox&Forkumaugust30aFiveMinu