Iran will have enough enriched uranium to make a single nuclear weapon later this year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reported on Tuesday.
The think tank made the prediction in its 'Military Balance 2009,' an annual assessment of global defense and military developments. Announcing the new report on Tuesday, Mark Fitzpatrick said the threat may not necessarily as big as it sounds. "Being able to enrich uranium is not the same as having nuclear weapons," he said.
In addition, the report placed doubts over U.S. intelligence estimates that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons six years ago and pointed to Tehran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles able to reach targets in Israel and beyond.
Russia, on the other hand, made a great show of its military last year, including naval exercises with Venezuela. But the IISS study found that Russia is much less threatening than it would like to appear.
A Times of London report on the study described the former Soviet powerhouse as a "paper tiger," noting that study's conclusion that Russia's displays of its naval fleet were mere symbolic gestures.
The country was only able to deploy a small number of ships, while the rest were anchored at home — there wasn't enough money to keep the whole fleet at sea, according to the study.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment