Iran is six months away from its first nuclear bomb, the intelligence said

By Boyko Nikolov On Jul 10, 2020

TEHRAN, (BM) – Iran has become just a few months away from producing its first nuclear bomb, thanks to its relatively enriched uranium, an intelligence officer told the online publication Elaph, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing AMN.

Elaph quoted the unnamed senior intelligence official as saying that Iran has 140 kg of uranium enriched by 4%, and it needs only 6 months to complete enrichment to more than 90%.

The intelligence source said Iran would be able to produce its first nuclear bomb, if it chose to, noting that success in that depends on the absence of errors or any interference with the nuclear program.

He continued: “Iran has resumed limited enrichment activity, and is in the process of obtaining another 140 kg of enriched uranium to produce a second bomb after the completion of the first production, by a decision that would come from the High Command.”

But Tehran has not taken its decision yet, especially in light of its economic problems and U.S. sanctions, which coincide with the pressures of the coronavirus outbreak that claimed the lives of several Iranians.

The newspaper said it obtained information, according to which, the recent bombings that affected “nuclear facilities and military sites in Iran” would disrupt this endeavor and impede the project for months and possibly years.

For its part, the Andishah Sazan Institute for Strategic Studies in Iran revealed, Thursday, the results of the ongoing investigations regarding the incident at the Nahtanz nuclear facility.

“The ongoing investigations into the Natanz facility incident confirm the absence of any air attack from outside the country and across the Iranian border,” said Saadallah Zaraei, head of the institute.

“The explosion occurred from inside the facility because of either a cyber attack or an act of sabotage,” Zaraei said, stressing that “the relevant authorities will surely announce the main cause of the explosion and its circumstances as soon as the investigations are completed.”

Regarding an Israeli role in the blast inside the Natanz facility, the Iranian official stressed that “the Israeli entity wants to fish in troubled waters and record for itself what it dreams to achieve.”

Just days ago, there was an explosion at a secret Iranian nuclear facility

A gas explosion occurred in a mountainous area near Tehran last Friday night, thundered in the area east of the Iranian capital, where the secret underground rocket factory is located, the Associated Press [AP] reported on Sunday, citing data from the US Center for Strategic and International research as we reported on June 28.

Earlier, Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Dawood Abdi said that on the night of June 26, a container of gas exploded near the Parchin military base. He did not give details and did not state the reasons for the incident.

According to the news agency, the photographs taken from the Sentinel-2 satellite of the European Space Agency show that 20 km east of Tehran appeared a large area of scorched earth, which was not there a week ago. The explosion occurred near the Kodzhir complex, on which, according to experts of the American Center for Strategic and International Studies, rocket production was established.

The US Department of Defense Intelligence previously claimed that Iran has the largest underground arms production program in the Middle East.

The news agency also recalls that the Parchin military base near Tehran previously attracted the attention of the IAEA. It was assumed that Iran, about 20 years ago, conducted tests on the territory of the base of components that can be used in the production of nuclear weapons. The Iranian authorities, for their part, stated that they had never tried to create their own nuclear weapons.

Parchin military complex

Parchin is an Iranian military complex located about 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Northwest of the Barjamali Hills brocade, the rocket launcher test site is part of the Shahid Hemat Industrial Group (PSHY) Research Center, where the signature test of the firing stand engine is likely to include technology from Russia SS– Sandal rocket was confirmed by an American spy satellite in August 1997.

On December 15, 1997, at least sixth 1997 engine tests were performed for the Ballistic Missile, required for 800 miles (1300 km) of ballistic missile. The test was either sixth or eighth in 1997 according to available intelligence. He tells Russia the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute [TsAGI] was concluded in early 1997 in order to build a wind tunnel in the SHSH, how to modify the Shahab-3 missile for Iranian and Russian missile designers.

IAEA Inspection

On January 13, 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors allowed access to the Parchin military base as a confidence-building measure.

In November 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors allowed access to the Parchin military base as a confidence-building measure.

Since March 8, 2012, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China have called on Iran to allow United Nations inspectors to visit the brocade military facility.

In early October 2014, the New York Times reported concerns about sabotage arising from the explosion that took place on the site.

In July 2015, there was a claim that there was activity in the military-industrial complex related to nuclear weapons, but the Iranian mission to the UN stated that there was no production of nuclear weapons on site and that the reactivation was misleading due to a road reconstruction opposite the Mamloo dam, not far from parchin military complex. Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Institute for Science and International Security’s analysis of satellite imagery was a lie.

The US, Iran and the UN arms embargo

Accordignt the Pentagon the United States of America will not allow Iran to buy Russian or Chinese fighter jets, regardless of whether the UN extends the arms embargo on the Islamic Republic in October.

The Secretary of State noted that the termination of the ban on the sale of weapons to Tehran would mean that he could buy fighters, such as the Russian Su-30 or Chinese J-10. According to the American politician, this cannot be allowed.

“With these deadly planes, Europe and Asia will be at gunpoint in Iran. The United States will never let this happen,” wrote Pompeo.

He attached a drawing to his publication, which depicts the radius of action of the Su-30 and J-10, respectively, 3,000 and 1,648 km. The figure shows that a Russian fighter from Iran will be able to fly to Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Italy and other countries.

The Chinese fighter, according to this scheme, will be able to reach the southwestern borders of some countries of Eastern Europe.

According to sources, Israel is behind the attacks

A fire at a nuclear facility in Iran caused a sabotage from Israel using an explosive device, The New York Times wrote on July 5, citing an informed source.

“A Middle Eastern intelligence official who is aware of what happened said that Israel is responsible for the attack on the nuclear facility in Natanz. A powerful explosive device was used,” the article said.

Journalists did not provide more detailed information about the source of information. Additionally, the article reports that information about the operation of an explosive device at the facility was also confirmed by an unnamed soldier from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces.

The newspaper said that it could not verify and confirm the allegations of sources about the involvement of Israel in the fire.

Recall, the fire occurred on July 2 in one of the buildings of the uranium enrichment complex in the city of Natanz. It is alleged that there is no radiation pollution of the environment.

On July 5, Israeli Defense Minister Beni Ganz announced that his state cannot be blamed for every incident in Iran. He referred to the complexity of nuclear power systems and the low qualifications of Iranian specialists.

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