May 21, 2006
Press Trust of India

"Iran may already possess a nuclear bomb but is "smart" enough to pretend to be on the way to achieving nuclear capability so that it could induce concessions from the international community, an Israeli nuclear expert has claimed.

The Iranians are not necessarily presenting the true facts to the world and may be showing the IAEA dummy presentations of an unfinished bomb, while hiding a fully developed bomb elsewhere, former head of the Nuclear Engineering Department at Ben-Gurion University, Professor Zeev Alfassi, told Ynet.

Tehran may be holding the true bomb in caves or in underground facilities, Alfassi told the news portal.

However, he ruled out any chances that the Islamic Republic will use its nuclear capability saying, "their thinking is fantastic."

"The Iranians, in terms of threats, are smarter than everyone. They threaten with a bomb and the world gives them anything they want, as long as they dont throw the bomb", the expert said.

"Being offered a reward instead of a punishment testifies to the fact that they are very smart," he added.

Alfassi said even five to six bombs won't destroy the Jewish state. A nuclear bomb could definitely hit an entire city, but not destroy a state, he said.

However, if the Iranians fire even one bomb, the United States will annihilate them, the nuclear expert noted suggesting, "If we don't create panic, the Americans won't deal with it."

Alfassi called on the public to recognise the true proportions of the threat claiming that heat and shock waves and not radioactivity factor was the most severe damages by the bomb.

Radioactive material can even aid in treating diseases like cancer, he said noting that even if a nuclear bomb scatters poisonous matter, the danger is not great.

"It's like giving people over 50 a regular dose of aspirin. It would be reasonable if someone was told to stand in a radioactive cell because it could eliminate the development of cancer," Alfassi told the portal.

As part of his research he experimented on rats and dogs, and found out that in Japan the method is used to treat cancer patients.

The professor's recently edited, "Chemical analyses and nuclear methods," has been translated to Persian.

The book does not divulge any information on the atomic bomb but Tehran closely tracks the publication of any book about nuclear science, he said."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1702808,001301970000.htm