The Blotter, in a story based on information from unnamed sources, says Iran will have enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb by 2009.

I always like to point out that these kinds of predictions by experts have proven to be wildly optimistic and/or flat out wrong in the past; see Pakistan, Libya, and Saddam pre-Gulf War 1.

Iran has more than tripled its ability to produce enriched uranium in the last three months, adding some 1,000 centrifuges which are used to separate radioactive particles from the raw material.

The development means Iran could have enough material for a nuclear bomb by 2009, sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News.

The sources say the unexpected expansion is taking place at Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant outside the city of Natanz, in a hardened facility 70 feet underground.

A spokesperson for the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, declined to comment citing the “extreme sensitivity” of the situation with Iran.

That last quote from the IAEA is especially ironic, because just a few days ago IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the Al-Arabiya satellite network that he doesn’t consider Iran a nuclear threat to the world.

LONDON, March 31 (IranMania) - IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that Iran is not considered as a nuclear threat to the world, IRNA reported.

In an interview with Al-Arabia television network, he said the country poses no nuclear threats to any country around the globe. Iran’s problems should be resolved through comprehensive talks with all parties, he underlined. Military conflict does not help resolve the issue, he said, adding that it only will lead to a regional catastrophe and will make the situation more complicated.

UNSC resolution only conveys a message that the international community is concerned about Iran’s goals and calls for confidence building between the two sides, he said.

There is no doubt that the issue should be merely resolved through dialogue, he said. The international community should differentiate between technical duty of IAEA and political evaluations of UNSC, he pointed out.

“Although we declared that there is no evidence of existence of nuclear weapons in Iraq but they did not give us enough chance to accomplish our task and ignited the war,” he said.