Officials said that they saw little need to hurry what was a sensitive and complex process because there was a de facto command authority in place, with the prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in charge of the nuclear trigger.

ECONOMIST: Controlling the nuclear decision

Mr. SIEGFRIED HECKER (Former Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory): The bottom line of the Non-Proliferation Treaty--in fact, of the proliferation world--I think, could be simply stated by the more fingers on the nuclear trigger, the more dangerous a world it is for everyone.

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Fires at nuclear facilities are often the trigger for nuclear catastrophes.

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He said the goal is to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel or trigger a possible arms race in the region.

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But the first country to send a missile, even a non-nuclear one, could trigger a tit-for-tat set of reprisals that both sides could find hard to stop.

ECONOMIST: South Asia’s nuclear winter | The

But despite Mr. Netanyahu's pledge of revenge, it is unlikely that Israel would use Wednesday's attack as grounds to strike Iranian nuclear targets, a move opposed by the U.S. and likely to trigger a regional war.

WSJ: Israel Blames Iran For Attack in Bulgaria