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Iran lacks nuclear bomb fuel: US officials
Washington (AFP) March 11, 2009 Iran has yet to decide whether to build a nuclear bomb and currently lacks the weapons-grade highly enriched uranium needed to do so, top US intelligence officials told lawmakers on Tuesday. But Tehran is enriching uranium in defiance of global sanctions and is "mastering" the know-how to build long-range missiles that can carry nuclear bombs to their targets oceans away, said director of intelligence Dennis Blair. And most spy agencies believe Tehran will probably be able to produce highly enriched uranium somewhere in the 2010-2015 timeframe, with the US State Department's apparatus setting the early date at 2013, he said. "Although we do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons, we assess Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop them," said Blair told the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he acknowledged that the US view was at odds with that of staunch ally Israel: "The Israelis are far more concerned about it, and they take more of a worst-case approach to these things from their point of view." To build a nuclear arsenal, Iran would need a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, would need to be able to build a warhead -- a process it froze in mid-2003 and likely has not resumed -- and would need long-range missiles. US intelligence agencies have concluded that "Iran has not decided to press forward on all three tracks," Blair said. "We are in agreement on this," Lieutenant Michael Maples, the director of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) told the same committee. And "Iran will see government revenues decline in 2009 as oil prices remain at low levels. Defense spending will have to be balanced with social programs," said Maples. Maples and Blair noted that Iran was building and acquiring advanced defenses against air strikes -- which experts see as a likely path for a military effort to destroy Iran's nuclear program. But doing so is "a separate decision" from whether to build a nuclear weapon, said Blair. Blair also warned it will be "difficult" to convince Iran through diplomatic means to give up its nuclear ambitions. Tehran might bow to a blend of "credible" incentives and "threats of intensified international scrutiny and pressures" but "it is difficult to specify what such a combination might be," he said. His comments came as US President Barack Obama wrestled with how to convince the Islamic republic to halt what the West views as a covert nuclear weapons drive. Iran denies the allegations, saying it needs atomic power to generate electricity for civilian use. "We assess convincing the Iranian leadership to forego the eventual development of nuclear weapons will be difficult, given the linkage many within the leadership see between nuclear weapons and Iran's key national security and foreign policy objectives, and given Iran's considerable effort from at least the late 1980s to 2003 to develop such weapons," Blair warned. US intelligence agencies estimate that Iran halted its nuclear weapons design and weaponization activities in late 2003 and that Tehran had not resumed them as of mid-2007, he told lawmakers.
earlier related report "Iran's growing power and intransigence give great advantage to the radical elements among Palestinians and in Lebanon," the aide said, when asked about talks Netanyahu held with outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak earlier in the day. "Any progress in the Middle East peace talks will require Hamas's weakening which can be achieved only if Iran is seen as weakened," he said. Israel accuses Iran of supplying weapons to both the Islamist rulers of Gaza and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006. Netanyahu, a hawkish former premier who heads the right-wing Likud party, said at the meeting, which was also attended by chief of staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, that he intends to focus his efforts on ending Iran's nuclear programme. Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, suspects that the Iranian programme is cover for a weapons drive but Iran insists it is solely for peaceful purposes. "It will be very difficult to stablilise the situation in Lebanon or to hold negotiations with the Palestinians as long as Iran's power is on the rise," the aide quoted Netanyahu as saying. The Likud leader, who is expected to form a narrow right-wing coalition next week, has rejected establishing a Palestinian state and has advocated what he calls an "economic peace" with the Palestinians. This could lead to tension with the new US administration after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that Washington intends an "aggressive" pusuit of Middle East peace. While expressing support for international efforts to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme by diplomatic means, Israel has repeatedly refused to rule out military action to prevent any possibility of Iran developing a bomb. "The military option remains on the table because it gives more chance for dialogue that will lead to a compromise with Iran," the aide said. US President Barack Obama has vowed to engage in dialogue with Iran in an effort to end the nuclear standoff, in a policy break with the administration of George W. Bush which refuse to deal with Tehran without a prior agreement to suspend nuclear enrichment. US intelligence chief Dennis Blair warned on Tuesday that it would be "difficult" to convince Iran to give up its quest for nuclear technology. "Although we do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons, we assess Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop them," said Blair. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Iran using nuclear talks to buy time for bomb: Israel
Jerusalem (AFP) March 8, 2009Iran is trying to use the talks with Western powers on its nuclear ambitions to buy time to produce an atomic bomb, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Sunday. |
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