It now seems beyond doubt that Iran has mastered production of all the parts necessary to make a compact nuclear weapon capable of being carried on its 1,200-kilometre range Shahab-3 missiles.
That's the missile featured in military parades in Tehran draped with banners in English saying "Israel Must be Wiped Off the Map."
It is even possible Iran has, at various secret locations, developed all the components for nuclear weapons. They only need to be bolted together to complete the production.
This is the clear implication of a nine-page report by the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, dated May 24.
The United Nation's nuclear watchdog's 35-nation governing board is considering the report and what further measures it can recommend against Iran, which is already under four rounds of UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
In his report, Amano reminded the board that in February he had told them of information he had received, apparently from United States, Israeli and European intelligence agencies, about Iran's undisclosed nuclear activities.
Because Tehran failed to respond to requests by the IAEA for information about those programs which could have military dimensions, he wrote again to the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Fereydoun Abbasi, on May 6.
The Tehran regime has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is entirely for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity and producing such things as medical isotopes.
It further insists that it is legally entitled and will continue to enrich uranium to manufacture fuel for its reactors. But it is evident from IAEA inspections that Iran has built facilities capable of enriching uranium to the high levels needed to make nuclear weapons rather than just the low levels required for reactor fuel.
With no significant response from Tehran to his May 6 letter, Amano reported to his board that "the Agency remains concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."
Amano wrote that he recently received new information about Iran's nuclear experimentation and production. He doesn't spell it out, but all these activities add up to efforts to be able to produce a compact bomb using the implosion method of setting off the nuclear reaction and suitable for mounting on a missile.
Amano paints this clear picture by setting out six questions about its activities that he believes Tehran needs to explain.
There is evidence of experiments with the explosive compression of uranium deuteride to produce the short burst of neutrons necessary to get a nuclear explosion started.
There is information that Iran has been working on producing uranium metal from fluoride compounds and manufacturing it into components necessary for a nuclear weapon.
Iran has, according to Amano's information, tested and manufactured the highly specialized shaped explosives used to compact two hemispheres of enriched uranium so thatthey become a critical mass that generates the nuclear explosion.
Other information indicates Iran has taken the next step and conducted "full scale experiments," perhaps with "the assistance of foreign expertise," on testing these highly complex explosion techniques.
There is also evidence Iran has experimented with firing equipment and instrumentation needed to trigger these explosives over long distances, such as would be necessary to conduct an underground test of a nuclear weapon.
Finally, Amano said he has information that Iran has redesigned the nose cone of its Shahab-3 missile, developed with the aid of Russia and North Korea, so that it can carry a nuclear weapon rather than its conventional high-explosive payload.
Taken individually, these activities are conclusive proof of an active and near-complete nuclear weapons program. Some could have other purposes related to a peaceful program.
But taken together the picture they paint is unmistakable.
Iran maintains that allegations of a weapons program are either based on purposeful misinformation put about by its enemies or innocent activities taken out of context.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded on Tuesday to Amano's report, saying the IAEA chief is following U.S. government orders and his comments have "no legal value."
Iran, Ahmadinejad said, will continue its nuclear program, including the enrichment of uranium, despite whatever the IAEA or the UN decide to do.
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