Pentagon: Iran Needs 3-5 Years to Build Usable Atom Bomb

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Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear bomb in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to assemble, test and deploy a "usable" atomic weapon, top Pentagon officials said on Wednesday.

The new time frame presented to Congress comes as President Barack Obama presses a reluctant China to back swift sanctions on Iran and U.S. intelligence agencies sought to complete a new National Intelligence Estimate that will assess Tehran's nuclear progress.

Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said available information suggested the centrifuges at Iran's enrichment plant at Natanz were producing low-enriched uranium and were not yet being used to make highly enriched uranium at a level needed for nuclear weapons.

The United States believes Iran has yet to make the decision to shift production to highly enriched uranium, according to officials.

But when asked how long it would take Iran to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon if the leadership decided to do so, Burgess told the Senate Armed Services Committee:

"The general consensus -- not knowing again the exact number of centrifuges that we actually have visibility into -- is we're talking one year."

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, concurred: "They have enough low enriched uranium now that, if they further processed and enriched that, that in a year ... they would have enough material for one weapon."

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63D3FC20100414