One angle which has not been explored sufficiently is that of Iran and Polonium-210. It was reported back in Feb 2004 that Iran has produced Polonium as part of their nuclear production efforts:

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (AFP) — Iran produced and experimented with polonium — used in the timing of nuclear explosions — some time ago, but says it was not used for such purposes, The Washington Post said Tuesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will include Iran’s experimentation with polonium in a report to be submitted this week at the United Nations, two people familiar with the report told the daily.

Iran has submitted to IAEA inspections to show the world it does not have nuclear weapons ambitions, but its dabbling with polonium coupled with the IAEA’s discovery of components for an advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuge have raised serious doubts about Tehran’s forthrightness.

Iran has acknowledged the experiments with polonium but has offered an explanation involving another of polonium’s possible uses, including power generation.

The IAEA has left the issue “hanging there,” one person familiar with the matter told the Post.

He said the experiments took place “some time ago,” the daily added.

Polonium has some industrial purposes, but in combination with beryllium it can be used to ensure the chain reaction leading to a nuclear explosion begins at the right time.

More here with the clear implication that where you find large amounts of Polonium you may find a nuclear weapon. As we all now know Polonium has very limited use in the general commercial market due to its toxicity. So let’s assume the reports that the Russian production of Polonium has been suspended for two years now and all inventories and exports have been accounted for. That would make the Iranians a plausible secondary source. Let’s connect some dots between Russia and Iran’s nuclear program:

Russia and Iran have signed an agreement for Moscow to supply fuel to Iran’s new nuclear reactor in Bushehr.

Under the deal Iran has to return spent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor, which was designed and built by Russia.

The clause is a safeguard meant to banish fears that Iran might misuse the rods to build nuclear weapons, a concern of the US, Israel and others.

The agreement sets out a time-frame for delivery of the fuel, but officials said the dates would be kept secret.

This kind of arrangement is what many on the left might like to see with Iran as opposed to the Bush administration’s efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. It was hoped this arrangement would avoid Iran having some of the materials to make a nuclear bomb. But it doesn’t appear to address by products that could be made like Polonium-210. And now one more dot for consideration: The Chechen’s:

Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces.

Teams of Chechen fighters are being trained at the Revolutionary Guards’ Imam Ali training camp, located close to Tajrish Square in Tehran, the Sunday Telegraph cited Western intelligence reports.

In addition to receiving training in the latest terror techniques, the Chechen volunteers undergo ideological and political instruction by hardline Iranian mullahs at Qom.

The paper noted that this information would not “go down well in Moscow, which regards itself as a close ally of the Iranian regime.”

This angle deserves a lot more analysis and may explain why the UK’s AWE initially determined that it was a Russian reactor that created the Polonium-210. Maybe it was just a Russian designed reactor located someplace else.