Dr. Efraim Askolai says Islamic theocracy will be able to produce a core for nuclear bomb in a year’s time. Gil Ronen – Israel National News Iran will be able to produce a first corefor a nuclear bomb in about one year’s time, according to Dr. Efraim Askolai, a former member of the Israeli Atomic Energy Committee. Askolai’s estimate jibes with similar ones made recently by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and correlates with an estimate by his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak. Speaking at the Center for Strategic Dialog at the Netanya Academic College, Askolai said that Iran will be able to produce up to five nuclear bombs at first. For this, it will utilize the secret plant it built near Qom, which he described as “a smoking gun” that proved its intentions to produce a weapon. He estimated that Iran wants to reach a point where it can produce a bomb at shortnotice. It will then be able to enrich uranium to a 90% level in a short time, and carry out a nuclear explosion. Right now, Tehran wants to buy time, he added. The sanctions that have been applied to Iran cannot delay Iran’s nuclear program, the expert said. A boycott of Iranian oil and sanctions that paralyze it financially could have done that, he said.
