US Intelligence Finds No Iran Nukes
Source: Alalam.ir, 4-12-2007
WASHINGTON--The US intelligence community, in an unexpected reversal, has said that US charges about Iran's atomic goals have been overblown for at least two years.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) raised fresh questions about the White House's battered credibility five years after the US drive to invade Iraq based on dire, but false, warnings.
In October, President 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.
The NIE, the consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies, said it was unclear whether Iran sought nuclear arms and claimed that the country had halted nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Tehran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, arguing the country is ideologically banned from developing nuclear weapons.
The UN nuclear agency said the latest US intelligence report backs up the findings of IAEA inspectors over the past few years.
"This validates the repeated assessment of the director general that the inspectors' findings represented no clear and present danger and that there was ample time for negotiations," a senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency told Reuters.
"This is in sync with IAEA statements over the past few years that we had no evidence nor had been given any intelligence information of an undeclared nuclear weapons program anywhere," the official added.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei reported last month that Iran was making "good progress" in solving questions about its plans.
Iran welcomed the US intelligence report, saying it is becoming clear its plans are peaceful.
The US report said that Iran appears "less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005".
"But we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," cautioned declassified findings of the estimate, which starkly contradicted a 2005 NIE's conclusions.
The report should bolster those who say President Bush has overstated the threat posed by Iran and weaken the argument for military action.
Rand Beers, who resigned from Bush's National Security Council just before the Iraq war in 2003, said the report should derail any appetite for war on the administration's part and should reinvigorate regional diplomacy.
"The new NIE throws cold water on the efforts of those urging military confrontation with Iran,'' Beers said.
US national security adviser Stephen Hadley still said he hoped that Russia and China would not stiffen their opposition to imposing further sanctions on Iran.
"There's going to be a tendency of a lot of people to say: 'The problem's less bad than we thought, let's relax,'" said Hadley. "Our view is that would be a mistake."
At a White House briefing, Hadley flatly denied any escalation in US rhetoric on Iran and insisted that the NIE proved that "we have the right strategy" of stepping up international pressure.
But the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller, said that the estimate proved that "the intelligence community has learned its lessons from the Iraq debacle.
"It has issued judgments that break sharply with its own previous assessments, and they reflect a real difference from the views espoused by top administration officials," he said in a statement.
And Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid called on Bush to emulate former Republican president Ronald Reagan's dialogue with the Soviet Union, pushing for "a surge of diplomacy" with Tehran.
The NIE report found that "the earliest possible date" Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon was late 2009, "but that this is very unlikely".
Washington recently slapped unilateral sanctions on Iran, and has been pushing for a third round from the United Nations.
Asked about the report, Iran's FM Manouchehr Mottaki said, "It's natural that we welcome it when those countries who in the past have questions and ambiguities about this case ... now amend their views realistically."
"The condition of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities is becoming clear to the world."
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a senior Iranian deputy, said NIE's report shows Washington is having to change tack because it could no longer justify charges that Tehran wanted a bomb.
He told state TV it would strengthen those opposed to more sanctions.
"This report will be another factor in line with strengthening the positions of these countries (Russia and China) and weakening the positions of the group who were pursuing... the issue of the third resolution," he said.
"I believe that from the beginning American intelligence organizations knew Iran did not have deviations (from peaceful atomic aims)," said Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign policy and national security committee.
The "Israeli" occupying regime responded to the report by claiming that Tehran had probably restarted its military nuclear program despite a temporary halt.
Britain said it would continue to press for increased pressure on Iran over its nuclear activities despite the report.
WASHINGTON--The US intelligence community, in an unexpected reversal, has said that US charges about Iran's atomic goals have been overblown for at least two years.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) raised fresh questions about the White House's battered credibility five years after the US drive to invade Iraq based on dire, but false, warnings.
In October, President 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.
The NIE, the consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies, said it was unclear whether Iran sought nuclear arms and claimed that the country had halted nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Tehran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, arguing the country is ideologically banned from developing nuclear weapons.
The UN nuclear agency said the latest US intelligence report backs up the findings of IAEA inspectors over the past few years.
"This validates the repeated assessment of the director general that the inspectors' findings represented no clear and present danger and that there was ample time for negotiations," a senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency told Reuters.
"This is in sync with IAEA statements over the past few years that we had no evidence nor had been given any intelligence information of an undeclared nuclear weapons program anywhere," the official added.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei reported last month that Iran was making "good progress" in solving questions about its plans.
Iran welcomed the US intelligence report, saying it is becoming clear its plans are peaceful.
The US report said that Iran appears "less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005".
"But we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," cautioned declassified findings of the estimate, which starkly contradicted a 2005 NIE's conclusions.
The report should bolster those who say President Bush has overstated the threat posed by Iran and weaken the argument for military action.
Rand Beers, who resigned from Bush's National Security Council just before the Iraq war in 2003, said the report should derail any appetite for war on the administration's part and should reinvigorate regional diplomacy.
"The new NIE throws cold water on the efforts of those urging military confrontation with Iran,'' Beers said.
US national security adviser Stephen Hadley still said he hoped that Russia and China would not stiffen their opposition to imposing further sanctions on Iran.
"There's going to be a tendency of a lot of people to say: 'The problem's less bad than we thought, let's relax,'" said Hadley. "Our view is that would be a mistake."
At a White House briefing, Hadley flatly denied any escalation in US rhetoric on Iran and insisted that the NIE proved that "we have the right strategy" of stepping up international pressure.
But the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller, said that the estimate proved that "the intelligence community has learned its lessons from the Iraq debacle.
"It has issued judgments that break sharply with its own previous assessments, and they reflect a real difference from the views espoused by top administration officials," he said in a statement.
And Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid called on Bush to emulate former Republican president Ronald Reagan's dialogue with the Soviet Union, pushing for "a surge of diplomacy" with Tehran.
The NIE report found that "the earliest possible date" Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon was late 2009, "but that this is very unlikely".
Washington recently slapped unilateral sanctions on Iran, and has been pushing for a third round from the United Nations.
Asked about the report, Iran's FM Manouchehr Mottaki said, "It's natural that we welcome it when those countries who in the past have questions and ambiguities about this case ... now amend their views realistically."
"The condition of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities is becoming clear to the world."
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a senior Iranian deputy, said NIE's report shows Washington is having to change tack because it could no longer justify charges that Tehran wanted a bomb.
He told state TV it would strengthen those opposed to more sanctions.
"This report will be another factor in line with strengthening the positions of these countries (Russia and China) and weakening the positions of the group who were pursuing... the issue of the third resolution," he said.
"I believe that from the beginning American intelligence organizations knew Iran did not have deviations (from peaceful atomic aims)," said Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign policy and national security committee.
The "Israeli" occupying regime responded to the report by claiming that Tehran had probably restarted its military nuclear program despite a temporary halt.
Britain said it would continue to press for increased pressure on Iran over its nuclear activities despite the report.
