Iran has the ability to make nuclear bomb, says leaked UN report

[---]

September 18, 2009
Iran has the ability to make nuclear bomb, says leaked UN report
Times Online

* 2 Comments

Recommend? (5)

Experts at the UN's nuclear watchdog believe that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and worked on developing a missile system that can carry an atomic warhead, according to a leaked report.

The document, drafted by senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and seen by the Associated Press, is the clearest indication yet that those officials share Washington’s views on Iran’s weapon-making capabilities and missile technology — even if they have not made those views public.

The document, titled “Possible Military Dimension of Iran’s Nuclear Programme”, appeared to be the so-called IAEA “secret annex" on Iran’s alleged nuclear arms programme that the US, France, Israel and other IAEA members say is being withheld by the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei — claims that the nuclear watchdog denies.

It is a record of IAEA findings since the agency began investigating Iran’s nuclear programme in 2007 and has been continually updated.
Related Links

* Clashes in Tehran as opposition defies warnings

* ‘Iran may have material for nuclear bomb’

* China is on the up, the US is flagging

The information in the document that is either new, more detailed or represents a more forthright conclusion than found in published IAEA reports includes:

The IAEA’s assessment that Iran worked on developing a chamber inside a ballistic missile capable of housing a warhead payload “that is quite likely to be nuclear”.

That Iran engaged in “probable testing" of explosives commonly used to detonate a nuclear warhead — a method known as a “full-scale hemispherical explosively driven shock system".

An assessment that Iran worked on developing a system “for initiating a hemispherical high explosive charge" of the kind used to help spark a nuclear blast.

In another key finding, an excerpt notes: “The agency ... assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device [an atomic bomb] based on HEU [highly enriched uranium] as the fission fuel.”

Dr ElBaradei said in 2007 that there was no “concrete evidence" that Iran was engaged in atomic weapons work — a source of friction with the United States, which has sought a hardline stance on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Responding to the Associated Press report, the agency did not deny the existence of a confidential record of its knowledge and assessment of Iran’s alleged attempts to make nuclear weapons. But an agency statement said that the IAEA “has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran”.

It cited Dr ElBaradei as telling the agency’s 35-nation governing board last week that “continuing allegations that the IAEA was withholding information on Iran are politically motivated and totally baseless”.

“Information from a variety of sources ... is critically assessed by a team of experts working collectively in accordance with the agency’s practices,” it said.

“The IAEA reiterates that all relevant information and assessments that have gone through the above process have already been provided to the IAEA Board of Governors in reports of the director general.”

Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad, in an interview with NBC Nightly News, refused to foreswear ever building nuclear weapons, but said repeatedly that he saw “no need" for them.

“Well, nuclear arms, we believe they belong to the past and the past generation,” he said.
Related Links

* Clashes in Tehran as opposition defies warnings

* ‘Iran may have material for nuclear bomb’

* China is on the up, the US is flagging

The IAEA document traces Iran’s nuclear arms ambitions as far back as 1984, when the current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was President and Iran was at war with Iraq.

At a top-level meeting at that time, according to the document, Mr Khamenei endorsed a nuclear weapons programme, saying “a nuclear arsenal would serve Iran as a deterrent in the hands of God’s soldiers”.

He and other top Iranian leaders insist that their country is opposed to nuclear weapons, describing them as contrary to Islam. They argue that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and other activities are strictly for civilian purposes.

Senior US government officials have for years held the view that Iran has the expertise to make a bomb. The Obama Administration said yesterday that it was scrapping a Bush-era plan for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe after US intelligence concluded that Iran’s short and medium-range missiles were developing more rapidly than previously projected.

The Associated Press saw two versions of the UN document — one running to 67 pages that was described as being between six months and a year old, and the most recent one with more than 80 pages and growing because of constant updates. Both were tagged “confidential".

A senior international official identified the document as one described by the US and other IAEA member nations as a “secret annex" on Iran’s nuclear programme. The IAEA has called reports of a “secret annex" misinformation.

The document is based on intelligence provided by member states, the agency’s own investigations and input from outside nuclear arms experts under contract with the IAEA.

Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment, the key to making both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade uranium. It is blocking IAEA attempts to investigate allegations based on US, Israeli and other intelligence that it worked on a nuclear weapons programme.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle6840024.ece