Iran continues to be a hot topic with the country repeatedly dismissing any chances of suspending its nuclear ambitions. While the country still maintains that they are seeking nuclear technology for peaceful reasons, the West is not buying into that story and insisting that the country has one goal in mind... nuclear weapons. Who is chose to believe is up to, but one thing is for sure, even just the possibility that Iran may be possessing nuclear weapons in the near future is a disturbing thought and one that leads to all sorts of possible outcomes, none of which are pretty.

The most recent indication of Iran's nuclear status came from the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who stated today that he believes Iran will be in possession of close to 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges by the end of next month. The 3,000 mark is what the IAEA refers to as the "point of no return" in the starting of a large-scale program.

Kind of a scary thought if you think about it for a second. Once again, I am not suggesting that I feel Iran is looking to build nuclear weapons in an attempt to go to war with the West, but we can all agree that if Iran is able to build up a nuclear weapon arsenal things in the Middle East are bound to move in a completely new direction. This would definitely have a very de-stabilizing effect on the entire region, and as far as I am concerned there are already more than enough countries in possession of nuclear weapons. In my mind 1 country is 1 country too many when we are discussing these sorts of weapons. With North Korea getting into the nuclear weapon game, and from the looks of things Iran soon to join, the world is definitely getting a lot more scary lately.

So what will happen if / when the West learns that Iran is definitely looking to join the ranks of the world's nuclear powers? Can we expect some sort of pre-emptive attack from America or possibly (and more likely) Israel? That is definitely one outcome that would have to been examined. In his same report discussing Iran's development of the 3,000 centrifuges Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that any attack by America or Israel would be "madness". I tend to agree with him, but it wouldn't be the first time this world witnessed an act of madness in the name of "peace".

One thing is for, all the signals are pointing to a strong oil market for the upcoming weeks. The long term picture, as always, will continue to be fuzzy in this volatile market, but I definitely expect to see prices heading up to, and through, the $70 barrier by the end of next week.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor'sObserver.