Iran has fuel for nuke bomb

NY Times:

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.

The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.

“They clearly have enough material for a bomb,” said Richard L. Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised Washington for decades. “They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that’s another matter.”

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For the past few years the "experts" have been saying that Iran had the knowledge to build a bomb they only lacked the fuel. Now that they have the fuel some experts are saying they don't have the know how. I think US intelligence has found that they indeed do have the know how.. How well the execute that know how is another matter.

As a weapon of terror one nuke is inadequate. For terror to be an effective weapon there must be a reasonable belief that it will continue. If Iran used its one bomb it would be more vulnerable than ever. There would be no reason for its enemies to show restraint and Iran would have no real means to resit. As a historical footnote, Japan did not surrender until after the second nuke dropped.