Click on it to enlarge. Map courtesy of http://www.geocurrents.info/place/southwest-asia-and-north-africa/irans-nuclear-program-possibility-military-strike
-------------
This website's information on the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) reflects Iran's interest in nuclear weapons research. The AEOI is active in many university institutes, cities and isolated sites in Iran, particularly in Tehran and Isfahan (aka Esfahan).
The Isfahan University of Technology (IUT) is closely related to AEOI. IUT includes the Nuclear Technology Center (INTC) (run by the AEOI) with an estimated 3,000 scientists - see http://www.nti.org/facilities/237/ . INTC has many functions including Uranium enrichment. INTC operates three small nuclear research reactors supplied by China.
Iranian Google searches detected on this website include:
- November 19, 2006 (IP 217.218.64.202) Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Tehran, conducted a Google search with key words "nuclear explosion simulation".
- March 4, 2007 (IP 213.176.127.82) from - "Iranian Research Organization" also conducted a Google search with key words "simulation underground nuclear explosion".
- September 9, 2007 (IP 217.218.64.202) AEOI, Tehran Google searched for information on "nuclear weapon effects computer".
- October 24, 2007 (IP 217.218.64.202) AEOI, Tehran, Googled for information on "Nuclear weapon effects computer".
- November 14, 2007 (IP 217.218.64.202) AEOI, Tehran Googled for information on "underground nuclear explosion simulation"
- November 22, 2007 (IP 217.219.18.13) Isfahan (aka Esfahan) University of Technology, Tehran campus, reading information on this blog concerning Indian and Pakistani nuclear missiles.
Then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a supercomputer at Isfahan University of Technology in 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfahan_University_of_Technology#Research_.26_Facilities . A supercomputer has many uses including nuclear explosion simulation. Such simulations demand the speed and capacity of a supercomputer. By 2011-2012 the Iranians are likely to have conducted nuclear explosion simulations using the supercomputer.
PETE'S COMMENT
-
As at January 2014 Iran is at or near breakout status - with the three components being:
- substantial stocks of semi-enriched uranium (LEU or MEU), which could become bomb grade (90+%) HEU within a couple of months using Iran's thousands of centrifuges and possible hidden laser enrichment capability.
- delivery means - in the form of Sejjil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejjil solid fuel IRBM and the Shahab series liquid fueled IRBMs, and
- enough nuclear device plans and components acquired from Pakistan's A. Q. Khan network to have constructed crude fission devices (minus the HEU and/or Plutonium explosive) around 8 years ago.
The Saudis using their own info and that shared by Israel and the US, would be very aware of Iran's nuclear status. If Iran moved from breakout to fully assembled warheads on missiles the Saudis would probably rely on the US and Israel to strike Iran.
Meanwhile the Saudis might complete there own nuclear capability mainly by purchasing it in cash and oil from Pakistan, China more quietly from the US and perhaps even from Israel. The Saudis have possessed now obsolete Chinese made CSS-2 IRBMs since around the 1987.
-
Pete