Iran attempted to buy a nuclear bomb from Pakistan as early as 1987, a leading Middle East analyst has told Haaretz.

Documents obtained by Simon Henderson, a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former journalist, offer crucial evidence that Iran's nuclear program is not wholly for civilian purposes as it claims - but aimed at developing an atomic bomb.

Henderson told Haaretz he has acquired material written by the scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan - popularly known as the father of Pakistan's bomb program - while under house arrest between 2005 and 2009.

Pakistan apparently refused Iran's offer - but Khan later traveled to the Middle East, where he auctioned his services as a private adviser. It was Khan who first provided Iran with designs for the centrifuges with which it continues to enrich uranium at its plant in Natanz.

Khan's other customer, Libya, eventually agreed to wind up its nuclear program and passed the CIA details of its transactions with the scientist. American intelligence was able to trace an elaborate smuggling operation in which the Pakistani had transferred bomb technology using front companies in Dubai.

In the Gulf emirate, Khan opened bank accounts under a variety of false names, including 'Khaidar Zaman', through which Iran paid him $5 million for his assistance.

As well as providing technical aid, Khan also gave the Iranians a list of Western suppliers of high-tech components vital to the enrichment process, who had helped Pakistan with its own bomb program.

As well as casting doubt on Iran's claims about the purpose of its nuclear research, Henderson's material could shed light on the thinking of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon have been delayed "a bit" and that Iran won't get one this year.

Gen. David Petraeus told a Senate panel on Tuesday that international pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program should continue.

A precise assessment of Iran's nuclear capabilities is classified, Petraeus said, but Iran's ability to obtain a bomb has "thankfully slid to the right a bit."

Now does he makes fool of himself or he wants to be embarrassed later? How He’s sure, they know everything about Iran’s nuclear programs?

When Soviet was making Atomic bombs, American used to say there will be 4 or 5 years to build. But each year Americans they were saying the same thing until the day that they saw the mushroom cloud.