U.S. REVISES ASSESSMENT ON IRAN'S NUKES
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has quietly revised its
assessment on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Officials said the U.S. intelligence community has determined that
Iran became capable of enriching uranium and completing the nuclear
fuel cycle. They said the new assessment envisioned Iran as ready
to produce fissile material for its first weapons.
"I would say that Iran does have the capability to develop nuclear
weapons and the delivery means for those weapons," Undersecretary
of State Robert Joseph said. "We have watched Iran proceed step by
step, conversion to enrichment-related activities, in a way that
demonstrates very clearly that they are moving forward to a nuclear
weapons capability."
Officials said this was the first time that a senior U.S. official
publicly assessed that Iran has achieved nuclear weapons
capability. In an earlier briefing to Congress, National
Intelligence director John Negroponte said Iran failed to acquire
key components required for indigenous nuclear weapons
production.