HC Deb 05 June 1992 vol 208 c672W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the latest estimate made by Her Majesty's Government of Iraq's nearness to being able to build nuclear weapons before the Gulf war, based on information made available by the United Nations special inspection commission in Iraq.

Mr. Archie Hamilton

The International Atomic Energy Authority's sixth nuclear inspection team found incontrovertible evidence that Iraq had developed a crude nuclear warhead design. But for the military action against Iraq initiated by the United Nations, Iraq could have had its first nuclear weapon by 1993.