They thought wrong. The USA has a few surprises up it's sleeves...
No, Iran. That threw me off too paul.
When he stated "Iran" I specifically remember this, as this stood out to me too, and I asked him again:
"You mean Iraq?" And he said: "No, Iran has nuclear capability now."
And I remember then saying: "Because of China? Because China has supplied Iran with nuclear capability?" And he said: "Yes, China and the Russians have supplied Iran with nuclear technology. And North Korea too."
And he went on to say that there were many Russian nuclear scientist who, after the wall came down, needed jobs, needed to eat, so "they went to work for Iran." (these aren't his exact words, but this was roughly what he said)
This is bad news for Israel. Just horrible. I wish I hadn't asked him any of this. But, when he said how high up he was back in the early '80s and that he worked directly with Sharon back then, I knew he might have some reliable information. :(
(And I'm still sitting here this afternoon, stunned/amazed how very nonchalant he stated that the end of Israel might be "within three years!") :(