Iran's nuclear bomb: US agencies believe there is no evidence
Sunday February 26, 2012 08:54:28 AM,
IANS
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Washington: While the
UN nuclear watchdog has reported that Iran has accelerated its
uranium enrichment programme, the US intelligence analysts believe
there is no hard evidence of the Islamic Republic deciding to
build a nuclear bomb.
As per current and former American officials, recent assessments
by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007
intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its
nuclear weapons programme years earlier, said the New York Times.
Officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010
National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus
view of America's 16 intelligence agencies.
At the centre of the debate is the question of the ultimate
ambitions of the Iranian leaders.
There is no dispute among American, Israeli and European
intelligence officials over Iran enriching nuclear fuel and
developing some necessary infrastructure to become a nuclear
power.
But according to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other
intelligence agencies, Iran is yet to decide whether to resume a
parallel programme to design a nuclear warhead -- a programme they
believe was essentially halted in 2003 which would be necessary
for Iran to build a nuclear bomb.
In his testimony to the US Senate Jan 31, James Clapper, head of
US national intelligence, stated explicitly that American
officials believe Iran is preserving its options for a nuclear
weapon. But there was no evidence that it had made a decision to
build a weapon, Xinhua reported.
David Petraeus, the CIA director, agreed to this assessment at the
same hearing.
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