P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/U.S._Intel_Links_Iran_Wit/2008/02/14/72641.html
U.S. Intel Links Iran With Nuke Bomb Bid
Thursday, February 14, 2008
VIENNA, Austria -- The U.S. has recently shared sensitive information with
the International Atomic Energy Agency on key aspects of Iran's nuclear
program that Washington says shows Tehran was directly engaged in trying to
make an atomic weapon, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The diplomats said Washington also gave the IAEA permission to confront Iran
with at least some of the evidence in an attempt to pry details out of the
Islamic republic on the activities, as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's
attempts to investigate Iran's suspicious nuclear past.
The decision by the U.S. administration to declassify its intelligence and
indirectly share it with Iran through the IAEA was a clear reflection of
Washington's' drive to pressure Iran into admitting that it had focused part
of its nuclear efforts toward developing a weapons program.
While the Americans have previously declassified and then forwarded
intelligence to the IAEA to help its investigations, they do so on a
selective basis.
Following Israel's bombing of a Syrian site late last year, and media
reports citing unidentified U.S. officials as saying the target was a
nuclear installation, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei turned, in vain to the
U.S. in asking for details on what was struck, said a diplomat who - like
others - asked for anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential
information.
Shared in the past two weeks was material on a laptop computer reportedly
smuggled out of Iran, said another diplomat, accredited to the IAEA. In
2005, U.S. intelligence assessed that information as indicating that Tehran
had been working on details of nuclear weapons, including missile
trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.
He said that after declassification, U.S. intelligence also was forwarded on
two other issues - the "Green Salt Project" - a plan the U.S. alleges links
diverse components of a nuclear weapons program, including uranium
enrichment, high explosives testing and a missile re-entry vehicle, and
material in Iran's possession showing how to mold uranium metal into warhead
form.
The material followed up on information on the projects shared by the
Americans with key allies and the agency last year, said the diplomat
Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to
suspend uranium enrichment, which it started developing during nearly two
decades of covert nuclear activity built on illicit purchases and revealed
only five years ago.
Since then, IAEA experts have uncovered activities, experiments and
blueprints and materials that point to possible efforts by Iran to create
nuclear weapons, even though Tehran insists its nuclear project is peaceful
and aimed only at creating a large-scale enrichment facility to make reactor
fuel. Its leaders consistently dismiss allegations that they are interested
in enrichment for its other use - creating fissile material suitable for
arming warheads.
Instead of heeding Security Council demands to freeze enrichment, Iran has
expanded its program. On Wednesday, diplomats told the AP that its new
generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of
the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
U.S. Intel Links Iran With Nuke Bomb Bid
Thursday, February 14, 2008
VIENNA, Austria -- The U.S. has recently shared sensitive information with
the International Atomic Energy Agency on key aspects of Iran's nuclear
program that Washington says shows Tehran was directly engaged in trying to
make an atomic weapon, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The diplomats said Washington also gave the IAEA permission to confront Iran
with at least some of the evidence in an attempt to pry details out of the
Islamic republic on the activities, as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's
attempts to investigate Iran's suspicious nuclear past.
The decision by the U.S. administration to declassify its intelligence and
indirectly share it with Iran through the IAEA was a clear reflection of
Washington's' drive to pressure Iran into admitting that it had focused part
of its nuclear efforts toward developing a weapons program.
While the Americans have previously declassified and then forwarded
intelligence to the IAEA to help its investigations, they do so on a
selective basis.
Following Israel's bombing of a Syrian site late last year, and media
reports citing unidentified U.S. officials as saying the target was a
nuclear installation, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei turned, in vain to the
U.S. in asking for details on what was struck, said a diplomat who - like
others - asked for anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential
information.
Shared in the past two weeks was material on a laptop computer reportedly
smuggled out of Iran, said another diplomat, accredited to the IAEA. In
2005, U.S. intelligence assessed that information as indicating that Tehran
had been working on details of nuclear weapons, including missile
trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.
He said that after declassification, U.S. intelligence also was forwarded on
two other issues - the "Green Salt Project" - a plan the U.S. alleges links
diverse components of a nuclear weapons program, including uranium
enrichment, high explosives testing and a missile re-entry vehicle, and
material in Iran's possession showing how to mold uranium metal into warhead
form.
The material followed up on information on the projects shared by the
Americans with key allies and the agency last year, said the diplomat
Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to
suspend uranium enrichment, which it started developing during nearly two
decades of covert nuclear activity built on illicit purchases and revealed
only five years ago.
Since then, IAEA experts have uncovered activities, experiments and
blueprints and materials that point to possible efforts by Iran to create
nuclear weapons, even though Tehran insists its nuclear project is peaceful
and aimed only at creating a large-scale enrichment facility to make reactor
fuel. Its leaders consistently dismiss allegations that they are interested
in enrichment for its other use - creating fissile material suitable for
arming warheads.
Instead of heeding Security Council demands to freeze enrichment, Iran has
expanded its program. On Wednesday, diplomats told the AP that its new
generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of
the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
