U.N.: Iran 'Months' From Having Nuke
(oh, really?)
Iran could be months away from a nuclear weapon, warned Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.
ElBaradei told the British newspaper The Independent that Iran's nuclear capabilities depend upon whether it begins enriching uranium.
"I know they are trying to acquire the full fuel cycle," he said. "I know that acquiring the full fuel cycle means that a country is months away from nuclear weapons, and that applies to Iran and everybody else."
www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/12/5/123007.shtml
But according to another site:
El-Baradei estimated that once Iran's mothballed Natanz underground enrichment plant becomes operational, Iranians could be "a few months" away from a nuclear weapon.
International Atomic Energy Agency officials have said that it would take at least two years for the facility to become fully operational.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3179547,00.html
An excerpt from an interview with El-Baredei may help clarify this:
WEYMOUTH: What is the timeline for Iran getting a nuclear weapon?
ELBARADEI: It depends on whether they have been doing weaponization. We haven´t seen signs of that. But they have the know-how. If they resume the fuel cycle, they should be able to get the fissile material within a year or two. If they have that, they are a year away from a weapon. It´s a matter of time, because they have the know-how and the industrial infrastructure.
Now, Iran Years Away From Having Nuclear Weapons! doesn't quite have the same punch does it? The obvious motive behind this is revealed in this quotation from Swift Boat author (and author of Atomic Iran) Jerome Corsi on WorldNet Daily:
"If no progress is made diplomatically by March 2006, the likelihood that Israel will launch a nuclear strike regardless of the consequences increases dramatically," Corsi said. www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47742
