Fissile Material Acquisition Efforts
The conditions of industrial potential is such that without outside help, Iran was unable to organize production of weapons-grade nuclear materials. Iran reportedly tried to acquire fissile aterial to support development of nuclear weapons, and attempted to develop the capability to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium.
In an attempt to shorten the timeline to a weapon, Iran may have launched a parallel effort to purchase fissile material, mainly from sources in the former Soviet Union. There are no convincing reports of any illegal deliveries of nuclear raw materials or nuclear fuel to Iran. Persistent media reports dating back to 1991 concerning four nuclear warheads which Tehran supposedly bought from Kazakhstan remain unconfirmed.
In his 2002 book, The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism, author Yossef Bodansky claimed: "In December [1991], the Kazakh deal came to fruition, and Iran made its first purchase of nuclear weapons. The deal included two 40-kiloton warheads for a Scud-type surface-to-surface ballistic missile; one aerial bomb of the type carried by a MiG-27; and one 152mm nuclear artillery shell. These weapons reached initial operational status in late January 1992 and full operational status a few months later."
