WASHINGTON (Agencies)
A new U.S. intelligence report says Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and it remains on hold, contradicting the Bush administration's earlier assertion that Tehran was intent on developing a bomb.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) raised fresh questions about the White House's battered credibility on a matter of war and peace five years after the U.S. drive to invade Iraq based on dire, but false, warnings.
In October, U.S. President George W. Bush raised the specters of "World War III" or a "nuclear holocaust" if Iran gets an atomic arsenal and wrongly claimed that Tehran had openly "proclaimed" its desire for one.
But in a finding likely to surprise U.S. friends and foes alike, the latest NIE, the consensus view of all 16 U.S. spy agencies, concluded: "We do not know whether (Iran) currently intends to develop nuclear weapons."
That marked a sharp contrast to an intelligence report two years ago that stated Iran was "determined to develop nuclear weapons."
The latest report said that Iran appears "less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005" and concluded that "the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure suggests that Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously."
But the new assessment found that Iran was continuing to develop technical means that could be used to build a bomb and it would likely be capable of producing enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon "sometime during the 2010-2015 time-frame."
The findings provided ammunition to both sides in the international dispute over the best approach to Iran, and were expected to fuel rather than quench the often bitter U.S. debate over Iran policy ahead of the November 2008 presidential elections.
Iran denies Western charges that it seeks nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program, and has drawn UN sanctions for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment, which can yield materials for a nuclear bomb.
Washington recently slapped unilateral sanctions on Iran, and has been pushing for a third round from the United Nations.
The shift in the intelligence community's thinking on Iran comes five years after a flawed NIE concluded neighboring Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction -- a report that helped pave the way for the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
No nuclear, chemical or biological weapons were ever found in Iraq and intelligence agencies since have been more cautious about Iran's nuclear ambitions. |
