The UN atomic watchdog yesterday released its toughest-talking assessment yet on Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons drive, based on a large body of intelligence rejected in advance by Tehran as fabricated.
In a keenly awaited report seen by AFP, the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed “serious concerns” and said some of the activities listed in 12 dense pages of intelligence “have civilian as well as military applications.”
But it stressed that “others are specific to nuclear weapons,” saying it had overall “credible” information indicating the Islamic republic “has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.”
Iran, which diplomats said had seen an advance copy of the report, insisted yesterday the West had no proof it was developing nuclear weapons, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declaring that Tehran did not even need the bomb.
TV channels in Israel, which has stoked speculation in recent days of a pre-emptive strike on Iran, said the report’s “unprecedented severity” made an imminent Israeli military strike unlikely.
US Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the report made it clear that Iran “has not been truthful” and that the international community had to “increase pressure” on Tehran.
“Iran’s leaders know what they need to do, the question is how we ensure they start doing it,” Mr Kerry said.
A senior official familiar with the IAEA probe said that the activities listed in the report covered practically all areas needed to make the bomb. The picture painted is “pretty comprehensive when you want to develop a nuclear weapon. It has the core itself, it has a delivery system, it has the acquisition of the material,” the official said.
“The report details Iranian activities that can only be explained if the purpose was to develop a nuclear bomb,” one Western diplomat in Vienna said, adding that Tehran had “offered no plausible explanation.”
The agency said that its information indicated that “prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured programme, and that some activities may still be ongoing.”