Iran's nuclear program : 'They can set off a bomb within six months' - Politik - STERN.DE

Iran's nuclear program : 'They can set off a bomb within six months' - Politik - STERN.DE

It is one of the central questions for Western governments dealing with Iran: How close is the regime to a nuclear bomb? According to stern magazine they have nearly reached their aim. Experts from the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German Foreign Intelligence Service, claim that Iran will be able to set off an atomic bomb within a few months.



Iran will soon be able to produce atomic bombs and to perform underground nuclear testing, just as North Korea has done, experts in the German Foreign Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) have told the weekly, Hamburg-based news magazine stern. "If they want to, they will be able to set off a uranium bomb within six months," a BND-expert is quoted in the latest edition of stern magazine to be published on Thursday. Picking up the stern-report, Reuters on Wednesday reported falsely, the BND had denied the claims. The BND did not deny the stern report.

Iran has by now mastered the entire nuclear enrichment technology and also possesses enough centrifuges to produce weapons-grade uranium, reports the BND according to stern. "Nobody would have thought this possible some years ago," an expert said. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, Iran has installed more than 7000 centrifuges at the nuclear power plant in Natanz. The 4290 of them in operation at the beginning of June had enriched at least 1.3 tons of uranium - enough for one to two nuclear bombs.

As reported by stern, Iran is focussing on building missiles capable of transporting nuclear bombs to targets as far as Europe. According to a senior BND official, these efforts are pursued "with massive intensity". The German Foreign Intelligence Service has "no doubt" that the missile program in Iran is "exclusively" aimed at the production of atomic warheads. However, it is said be another three years before Teheran will be capable of producing suitable ballistic missiles.

Research conducted by stern magazine shows that the necessary missile components are being obtained through a massive network of dummy companies. According to the BND, it is headed by "one of the most wanted men of the world" - the Iranian Said Mohammad Hosseinian. The magazine reports that several German companies are also involved.