Quote: ""We intend to have 100,000 centrifuges and, Allah willing, Iran will be able to meet its needs in nuclear fuel by next year," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. The current Iranian year ends on March 20, 2006.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has stated the US cannot attack Iran, due to lack of intelligence on the nation. If the Americans did not clear out Iran's nuclear facilities completely, the most they could do is put back the programme by a couple of years...

Quote: "Rice mentioned three reasons why the United States is currently unable to carry out a military operation against Iran: the wish to solve the crisis through peaceful means; concern that a military strike will be ineffective - that it would fail to completely destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities; and the lack of precise intelligence on the targets' locations. U.S. President George W. Bush and President Jacques Chirac of France met several weeks ago. Bush told his French counterpart that the possibility that Israel would carry out a strike against Iran's nuclear installations should not be ruled out.

And Ahmadinejad also believes Israel will not attack Iran, due to its weak leadership...

Quote: ""This is a media war, because the Zionist regime is weak; we have faced stronger countries in the past," the Iranian leader said during a visit to Iranian TV network Al-Alam. Ahmadinejad's remarks came in response to recent statements made by Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert alluding to the possibility of an attack on Iran.

According to the head of the IAEA, there is no "smoking gun" in Iran. According to the CIA, there is "no conclusive evidence" of a nuclear weapons programme. But who will take into account Ahmadinejad's "smoking gun", when he declared that Israel should be "wiped off the map"? Does the world have to wait until he decides to make his dream a reality?

Source Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, YNet News, Jerusalem Post