November 9, 2007 (LPAC)--Israeli commentator, Ronen Bergman, writes in today's Ynet that despite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that Iran has 3,000 centrifuges, Iran's uranium enrichment program and therefore its capacity to produce a bomb are greatly over stated. Berman writes that, "Israeli intelligence officials have cast great doubt on the veracity of this claim," referring to Ahmadinejad's statement. "The officials say that as a result of a wide array of malfunctions, Iran is still a long way from reaching the point of no return." According to these sources, due to technical problems the 3,000 centrifuges are not functioning at the level required to enrich uranium to the level required for a bomb. Even after they get these centrifuges working as required "it would take a long time to produce material needed for a nuclear bomb."

Bergman concludes that Israel has an interest in presenting Iran's progress as greater than it is in order to get international action against the program. As for Iran it wants to say it is more advanced than it is as part of its bargaining position with the IAEA.