AP says these sensational statements may be an attempt to gain more concessions during negotiations with the US without actually planning making a bomb.

Or, analysts warn, Iran could reach a point, as North Korea did nearly 20 years ago, where it decided that obtaining nuclear weapons is preferable to any other international sanctions.

The agency adds that all of this may be put to the test even now, when an early summit between Iran and the US and the European Union is being held in Vienna, in what appears to be a last attempt to revive the nuclear agreement.