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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/iran-could-have-nukes-within-year.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="The report backs up the claim by Liam Fox that it is 'entirely possible' Iran might develop a nuclear weapon by next year" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-iran-could-have-nukes-within-year.jpg" alt="The report backs up the claim by Liam Fox that it is 'entirely possible' Iran might develop a nuclear weapon by next year"/></a></p>
<p>Iran could develop a nuclear weapon within a year, a leading think-tank has warned.</p>
<p>Under the most likely scenario it would take Tehran over two years to make a single atomic bomb, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).</p>
<p>But if Iran was able to make untested uranium enrichment methods work, this timeline could be much shorter.</p>
<p>One remote possibility mapped out by the IISS would see Iranian scientists able to produce enough highly-enriched uranium for a weapon in just four weeks.</p>
<p>Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civil purposes, but there are growing concerns in the West that it is being used to mask attempts to develop a bomb. Defence Secretary Liam Fox warned in the Commons on Monday that it was &#8220;entirely possible&#8221; the Islamic Republic might have developed a nuclear weapon by next year.</p>
<p>The evidence shows &#8220;beyond reasonable doubt&#8221; that Tehran is seeking the ability to produce nuclear weapons, the London-based IISS concluded in a report on Iran&#8217;s nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities. Iran&#8217;s current stocks of low-enriched uranium would be enough for one or two nuclear weapons if further enriched, the study found.</p>
<p>At the report&#8217;s launch, Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Tehran, asked about the possibility of Iran using more advanced &#8220;third generation&#8221; centrifuges to enrich uranium for a weapons programme.</p>
<p>Lead author Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the IISS non-proliferation and disarmament programme, replied: &#8220;That&#8217;s the scary part. If Iran were able to get the third generation working well and producing in large numbers, the time to produce a weapon&#8217;s worth of HEU (highly-enriched uranium) reduces to four weeks.</p>
<p>&#8220;If they had a clandestine plant with almost 6,000 centrifuges operating &#8211; the number that were in the AQ Khan design that they sold to Libya &#8211; if they had 6,000 of these working and they were this most advanced third generation, four weeks.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Fitzpatrick stressed that this was only a theoretical scenario. The IISS also concluded that claims about Iran&#8217;s supposed chemical and biological weapons programmes could not be confirmed from publicly-available information and &#8220;may have been exaggerated&#8221;.</p>
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