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STEPHEN LONG: Iran could have a nuclear power plant in operation by August, according to reports today. Iran and Russia are adamant that the nuclear plant will be used exclusively for power generation. But there are fears, especially from Israel, that this plant will be used to produce nuclear weapons. Michael Rubin is a resident scholar with the conservative US think tank, The American Enterprise Institute. He's written extensively about the nuclear threat posed by Iran. He's in Sydney as a guest of the Australian/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. I spoke to him a short while ago. MICHAEL RUBIN: The reason why there's so much suspicion about Iran's motivation is this; Iran mines uranium and they've also said that they want to have eight nuclear power stations for energy generation. The problem is that if you take their amount of uranium and you figure the enrichment to nuclear fuel, low enriched uranium, they would only have enough uranium to power their energy system for 15 years. Now they say that they want a completely indigenous system and so it doesn't make sense to invest this much just for 15 years, especially if for one third of the price they could update their gasoline pipeline network and their refinery capability and provide more than enough energy for perhaps 100 years. STEPHEN LONG: Well it seems that there is a deep and growing suspicion in the world about the military direction of Iran's nuclear intentions. You spoke today at a Lowy Institute function wi... >>>