Iran has enough uranium 'to build a nuclear bomb'

Iran has enough enriched uranium to build one nuclear bomb, the United Nations has confirmed for the first time. Poor israel has only about 200 of them

In their first assessment of the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme since Barack Obama became US president, atomic inspectors disclosed that Tehran's leaders understated by a third how much uranium they had at their disposal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran now has amassed a stockpile totalling one ton of uranium which could easily be made into weapons-grade material with further purification.

In total Iran has stockpiled 2,227 pounds of low-enriched uranium at its Natanz nuclear plant but that was 460 pounds more than the Iranian government had previously disclosed.

The news is likely to cause a new flurry of concern in Israel, where politicians have expressed determination to prevent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has vowed to wipe their nation off the face of the earth, from getting his finger on the nuclear trigger.

The revelations will also be a challenge for Mr Obama, who has vowed to reach out to Iran, a policy critics believe will do little more than buy time for Tehran to develop its nuclear weapons programme to the stage where it has an arsenal capable of deterring an external attack. More