Posted on 09/11/2012 12:40:32 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. atomic agency has received new and significant intelligence over the past month that Iran has moved further toward the ability to build a nuclear weapon, diplomats tell The Associated Press.
They say the intelligence shows that Iran has advanced its work on calculating the destructive power of an atomic warhead through a series of computer models that it ran sometime within the past three years.
The diplomats say the information comes from Israel, the United States and at least two other Western countries and concludes that the work was done sometime within the past three years. The time-frame is significant because if the International Atomic Energy Agency decides that the intelligence is credible, it would strengthen its concerns that Iran has continued weapons work into the recent past — and may be continuing to do so.
Because computer modeling work is normally accompanied by physical tests of the components that go into a nuclear weapons, it would also buttress IAEA fears outlined in detail in November that Tehran is advancing its weapons research on multiple fronts.
"You want to have a theoretical understanding of the working of a nuclear weapon that is then related to the experiments you do on the various components," said David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security is a frequent go-to source on Iran for Congress and other U.S. government branches. "The two go hand-in-hand."
Such computer mock-ups typically assess how high explosives compress fissile warhead material, setting off the chain reaction that results in a nuclear explosion. The yield is normally calculated in kilotons.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
H/T to Hot Air.
This is totally unexpected.
Cap the mahdi’s well in Qom.
So Panetta lied when he say’s we have more than a year to continue diplomatic efforts? This article sounds like the Iranians are ready to field test a Nuke.
The UN says Iran’s bomb development program is OK because they are limiting development to the “Jewton” bomb. The “Jewton” is somewhat like a neutron bomb in that it is designed to only kill Jews and leave buildings standing.
It is amazing to me that more countries do not have nuclear capabilities. This was a technology that the USA developed almost 70 years ago. I have a book on my shelf, The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes that pretty much lays out how to a nuclear explosion is achieved.
The hard part is not making a crude working bomb, but getting enough refined fissile material.
The longer we/Israel gives the Iranians the more uranium ore they can refine into U235.
But I thought the CIA said the Iranians weren’t even close to building a nuke.
It's highly unlikely they could launch anything against the U.S. unless maybe right off the coast in international waters from a oil tanker or cargo ship with little time to intercept.
Second only to Israel, Iran hates the U.S. and wouldn't hesitate to do something really really stupid.
EMP Time approacheth.. I wonder whose computers they used? IBM?
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