Spies Clueless About Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program

Iran either stopped efforts to build nuclear weapons and the necessary missiles and other systems in 2003 or has restarted the effort, or it was never stopped. The truth depends on whether you believe intelligence from the United States, Israel or Germany, respectively, according to The New York Times.

The analysis points out that much media focus has been on Iran's uranium enrichment program. But as our reporter Tuan Nguyen pointed out last week, getting the deadly goods is just one piece of a complex puzzle needed to deliver it to a target. Developing a detonation device, packaging the stuff all just the right way, and adding the heavy and bulky product to a missile are among the other challenges.

“It's a very challenging goal,” says Leonard Spector, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. “I'd say they're at least a good year or more away from developing a basic weapon," Spector said of Iran. "They need to fabricate a bomb, and to get it on a missile warhead is tricky.”