Germans Say Iran Within 6 Months of A-bomb

Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), denied a report in a German magazine Stern Wednesday saying Iran is capable of producing and testing an atomic bomb within six months.

In the report, Stern quotes BND officials as saying: “If [the Iranians] wanted to, they could test a nuclear bomb within half a year.”

According to the report one BND expert reportedly commented on the advanced level of the Iranian nuclear program, saying “No one would have believed it a few years ago.”Itb is unclear what is meant by a “few years ago” But, for the last 3-years there has been a consensus that Iran could have a nuclear weapin by the end of 2009.

Iran is believed to have produced 1.3 million tons of enriched uranium, a quantity sufficient for producing two nuclear bombs once refined to bomb grade U235 that it seems capable of doing.

The German secret service, according to the magazine, has “no doubt” that Iran’s missile program is developed solely for the building of nuclear warheads.

The BND reportedly believes Iran could produce ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads within three years and likewise will have a missile deliverable warhead. .

According to the report the BND a huge secret network of companies coordinated by a man called Mohammad Hosseinian Said is apparently providing the necessary components to build the ballistic missiles. Stern reported that several German companies were also involved. But so far the entire list has not been made public.

There have been rumors for years of foreign scientists, companies and governments providing know how equipment, credit and financing to the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Those rumors and that network bloomed after Pakistan’s A. Q. Khan Apparatus was dissembled.

Before the report was made public Obama seemed to have set a September deadline - if blurry — and deputized Hilary Clinton to deliver the message.

Two weeks ago Israel sortied a missile firing submarine into the Persian Guklf region and last week two missile firing warship transited the Suez into the Red Sea enroute an undisclosed  destination. This coming week the U. S. is testing the Arrow anti-missile missile system with the Israelis at a Pacific location to determine if it can knockdown a missile during initial boost stage,  That suggest forward deployment of the system and could explain Israel’s naval movements.

Am=nm Israeli naval presence in the Persian Gulf could be a harbinger of a strategy to take out Iran’s air defense systems as its warplanes are enroute  to destroy or at least delay Iran’s nuclear bombs.

Stay tuned.