Yet more evidence emerges of Iranian deception on nukes as UN says Tehran already has know-how to produce nuclear weapons
The urgency of the Iranian nuclear situation has been taken up another notch this weekend by revelations that the UN’s top nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), now believes that the Islamist regime has “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” nuclear weapon.
The revelations came to light in a report on Saturday in the New York Times and provide further evidence that Tehran has been engaged in a consistent policy of public decpetion over its plans to acquire nuclear weapons. According to the paper:
“The atomic agency’s report also presents evidence that beyond improving upon bomb-making information gathered from rogue nuclear experts around the world, Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to fashion the components of a weapon. It does not say how far that work has progressed.”
The report appears to contradict a controversial analysis put out by US intelligence services in 2007 which argued that Iran had put its nuclear weapons programme on ice as far back as 2003.
The Times further reported that:
“The report, titled “Possible Military Dimensions of Iran’s Nuclear Program,” was produced in consultation with a range of nuclear weapons experts inside and outside the [IAEA]. It draws a picture of a complex program, run by Iran’s Ministry of Defense, “aimed at the development of a nuclear payload to be delivered using the Shahab 3 missile system,” Iran’s medium-range missile, which can strike the Middle East and parts of Europe. The program, according to the report, apparently began in early 2002.”
At a meeting in Geneva last week Iran made pledges to open up its nuclear facilities to full inspections and agreed “in principle” to send most of its enriched uranium reserves to Russia and France for reprocessing after which it would be repatriated to Iran for a reactor making medical isotopes.
However, in light of the latest report flatly contradicting Tehran’s assurances that its nuclear programme is for civil purposes only and after the revelations last week that Iran had a secret nuclear facility near the city of Qom it is increasingly obvious that the Iranian regime is simply playing a waiting game with western powers who claim to be serious in stopping it getting nuclear weapons.
To read the full report from the New York Times, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/world/middleeast/04nuke.html?_r=1&hp
