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Iran's Nuclear Disclosures: Why They Matter

[Christian Science Monitor] Peter Grier - "Iran presents the most serious single security challenge in the Middle East," writes Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a just-published book on the implications of Iran's weapons programs. An IAEA report leaked to the press in early October alleges that Iran's Project 110 is continuing its clandestine effort to produce a nuclear warhead small enough to sit atop a missile. "Project 111" is corresponding work aimed at reshaping space inside the nose cone of a Shahab 3 missile so that the warhead will fit. It is conceivable that Tehran could build its own nuclear device as early as this year, but it is more likely that the time frame for deployment of actual weapons, on top of missiles, would be 2011 to 2015, according to Cordesman. "Iran seems to be developing all of the capabilities necessary to deploy a significant number of nuclear weapons no later than 2020 and to mount them on missile systems capable of striking at targets throughout the region and beyond," Cordesman writes.
2009-10-19 06:00:00
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