World | Iran Tehran Has Enough Fuel for Nuclear Bomb Iran has more uranium than thought, says UN agency By John Johnson Posted Feb 19, 2009 9:50 PM CST Copied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks in Kermanshah, Iran, Wednesday Jan, 28, 2009. (AP Photo/ISNA, Saman Aqvami) Here's news that won't cheer Washington as it figures out how to deal with Iran: A UN agency says the nation now has enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb. In order to do so, Tehran would have to refine it further and kick out inspectors. But it reached this threshold of low-enriched uranium about a year earlier than expected, the Financial Times reports. One nuclear expert in Washington told the Los Angeles Times that he was "blindsided" by the report. "We are surprised," he said. "We did not expect this." But he noted that it represents only the "capability" of moving ahead with a bomb, not a decision to do so. Tehran would have to violate international treaties to take the next step, and so far it has shown no signs of doing so. Read These Next Golden Globes ends with an upset. Nikki Glaser jokes about Epstein files at the Golden Globes. Fed's Jerome Powell usually holds his fire. But no more. Kelly will fight Pentagon in court over Hegseth move. Report an error