Kazakhstan, Astana, 26 Feb. / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
Iran needs five to seven years to become a nuclear power provided its actions will not be hindered, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Vladimir Sazhin says.
"My opinion and not only mine is that Iran needs at least five to seven years to become a nuclear power provided its actions are not hindered. Therefore, I think there is still time to solve this problem in a political way and make Iran comply with the requirements of the UN Security Council resolutions and IAEA," Sazhin said on Tuesday.
According to him, Iran is not going to directly produce an atomic bomb itself.
"Iran's nuclear policy is aimed at creating an industrial infrastructure. That is, a closed nuclear fuel cycle to be able to quickly create weapons upon adoption of a political decision. Now even the Americans say that Iran has not made a political decision to develop nuclear weapons. Alongside I note that the work on establishment of an infrastructure is actively undertaken," the expert said.
According to him there are few countries capable of development of nuclear weapons and atomic bombs, in the shortest possible time. These are Germany, Japan, Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil.
"Iran, at least, tries to prepare the ground for development of nuclear weapons," Sazhin added.
He said this matter is now more expanded for Iran. For example, development of a nuclear device itself with the size of a truck, exposed by North Korea under the ground is not at all difficult given present technologies, he said.
"The most difficult thing is to make a small bomb from this nuclear device, especially since Iran has no nuclear weapon carriers on aircrafts. All efforts of this country are aimed at making warheads for missiles. This means Iran, along with the nuclear programme, actively develops its missile programme. The bomb here is easier to make than a nuclear warhead for a missile as it requires major technological advances. Therefore, they need at least another five to seven years to become a nuclear power," Sazhin concluded.
