Iran are 'nuclear weapon capable'

Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent Iranian politician said.

Parliamentarian Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam said Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium used to build atomic bombs.

“Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce (a) nuclear weapon, but will never choose this path,” Moghadam told the parliament’s news website, icana.ir.

Moghadam is not a government official and his views do not represent the Iranian government’s policy. But it is the first time a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapon.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges, saying its programme is geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly insisted his country is not seeking

nuclear weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also asserted that if Iran one day decides to build nuclear weapons, it will do so openly and won’t fear anybody.

Uranium has to be enriched to more than 90 per cent to be used for a nuclear weapon.

The UN nuclear agency has confirmed that Iran is churning out uranium enriched to 20 per cent and says that can quickly be turned into weapons-grade material.