16-05-10 Iran nuclear program 'solely civilian' - Erdogan

The Turkish Prime Minister,Recep Tayyip Erdogan,has told the BBC that he believes Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.Mr Erdogan said he was confident Iran's nuclear programme was for civilian purposes only and described President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "friend"."I told him I don't want to see nuclear weapons in the region," he added.Meanwhile,a top US general has said intelligence suggests Iran will not be able to build a nuclear bomb this year.Gen David Petraeus,the head of US Central Command,said Tehran's weapon development programme appeared to have suffered delays."It has,thankfully,slid to the right a bit and it is not this calendar year,I don't think," he told a Senate committee hearing,according to the Reuters news agency.Experts believe that Iran could enrich enough uranium for a bomb within a few months.However,it has apparently not yet mastered the technology of making a nuclear warhead.