LONDON: Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Friday.

Calling Tehran the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told BBC radio Iran seemed determined to develop nuclear weapons.   

"The estimate we have made is that sometime between the beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon which is a cause of great concern," he said.