U.S. intelligence: Iran apparently halted nuclear
weapons drive in 2003
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Dec 3, 12:58 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/2772198;_ylt=Amb4PB4c26pUGeLsWLcknt2s0NUE
WASHINGTON Iran was attempting to build a nuclear weapon but
halted the effort in the fall of 2003 and doesn't appear to have
restarted it, the declassified key judgments of a comprehensive new
U.S. intelligence report said Monday.
The report said that Iran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons
program suggested that "it is less determined to develop nuclear
weapons than we have been judging since 2005. Our assessment 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."
The long-delayed report is a stunning reversal of the U.S.
intelligence community's previous assessment that Iran is seeking
nuclear weapons, and it could slow the Bush administration's drive
to tighten United Nations sanctions on Tehran for defying U.N.
orders to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its
nuclear weapons program; we also assess with moderate to high
confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to
develop nuclear weapons," said the key judgments of the National
Intelligence Estimate titled, " Iran : Nuclear Intentions and
Capabilities."
An NIE reflects the consensus judgments of all 16 U.S. intelligence
agencies and is written by the National Intelligence Council , the
intelligence community's highest analytical body.
The report said that because of unidentified "intelligence gaps,"
the U.S. intelligence community and the Department of Energy
assessed with "moderate confidence" that Iran "had not restarted
its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007."
"We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear
weapons," the key judgments added. "We continue to assess with
moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently have a
nuclear weapon."
The report didn't disclose the information that prompted the U.S.
intelligence community to reverse its previous assessment that Iran
is developing nuclear weapons.
Iran , which hid its uranium enrichment program from inspectors of
the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency for 18 years, has
denied repeatedly that it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.
The Democratic-controlled Congress ordered the production of the
NIE amid concerns that the Bush
administration was hyping the threat posed by Iran's nuclear
program in the same way that it used bogus and exaggerated
intelligence to justify the war on Iraq .
Work began on the report at the beginning of the year, but its
publication has been repeatedly delayed, and senior intelligence
officials had said they wouldn't declassify the key
judgments.
But Donald M. Kerr , the deputy director of National Intelligence,
said that it was decided to release the key judgments "since our
understanding of Iran's capabilities has changed."
