Iran can build nuclear bomb now'

A former Israeli military intelligence chief said today Iran had all the components to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran says its nuclear programme is designed to produce energy and serve other peaceful purposes, but Israel and the West say it is aimed at developing weapons technology.

Amos Yadlin was quoted by the Maariv daily newspaper as saying that if Iranian leaders “get together tonight and decide they are going to secretly develop a bomb”, they have all the resources and components they need.

Yesterday Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said Iran had not officially decided to build bombs because that could draw harsher international sanctions and other actions against the nation.