Experts have crazy hunch that Iran might be working on nuclear weapons

The internal documents and expert analysis point to a growing Iranian mastery of disciplines including uranium metallurgy, heavy-water production and the high-precision explosives used to trigger a nuclear detonation. Although U.S. spy agencies have thought that Iran’s leaders halted research on nuclear warheads in 2003, European and Middle Eastern analysts point to evidence that Iran has continued to hone its skills, as recently as 2007.

“They’re slowly weaning themselves off a reliance on importing critical technologies, in favor of being able to manufacture critical components themselves,” said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a retired CIA officer and former Energy Department intelligence director. “Achieving an indigenous production capacity is right up there with mastering uranium enrichment.”…

“They are eliminating bottlenecks in the process of creating a reliable nuclear warhead,” said Albright, president of the D.C.-based Institute for Science and International Security. “I have no evidence of an Iranian decision to build them. On the other hand, doing the kind of work described in this document is a far cry from the common belief that Iran stopped work on nuclear weapons in 2003 and has not restarted.”