What happens if Iran develops the bomb? That is a question often asked in the press but never really answered. Â A new report from the RAND Corporation seems to suggest that Iran may be in possession of a nuclear warhead within the next eight weeks. Â Admittedly, that link is from an Israeli and thus not necessarily objective news source but the original question still stands. Â What would the response of the world be to an Iranian announcement that they are now in possession of a nuclear weapon? Â I don’t have any great confidence that it would be anything effective. Â I foresee much gnashing of teeth in Western capitals, the Chinese would probably applaud and eventually they would build a second and then someday a western city would go up in a mushroom cloud at which point the west would really get serious about the idea that it is not necessarily a good idea for a regime led by religious fanatics to have the bomb.