Iran may have nuclear bomb in 2-5 years
Iran may have nuclear bomb in 2-5 yearsIsrael News Photo: (archive)

David Kay, who headed the United States team that searched for nuclear weapons in Iraq, has said that Iran probably will be able to produce a nuclear bomb in 2-5 years. In a speech on Wednesday to the American think tank "NixonCenter," he advised against attacking the country unless Iran planned to hand over a nuclear bomb to a terrorist organization.

 

However, the American government already has stated that Iran's Revolutionary Guards is a terrorist group.

 

Kay also claimed that neither Israel nor the U.S. can destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, which are buried deep underground, but did not explain how an attack would succeed in the event that Iran was caught with handing over a nuclear weapon to terrorists.

 

He maintained that although Iran is 80- percent on the way to producing a nuclear weapon, the last 20 percent is the most difficult and that Iran has failed in previous efforts.

"You've got a clear record of a country that is damned determined at some point to develop nuclear weapons," he stated in his speech. "The real question to ask is, 'What are the political strategies we can follow now that can lessen the impact?'

 

"My personal guess is they are two to five years away from having a sufficient amount of fissile material and weapon design work to put them in a place where you believe they have the capability of putting a warhead on the end of a missile."

 

Kay added there is "virtually no possibility" that Iran will give up its uranium enrichment program, which can be used make nuclear warheads.

 

The Iranian missile program which analysts fear is being developed with a new intermediate-range ballistic missile is under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, analysts Dr. Ariel Cohen wrote for United Press International (UPI).