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=Amb4PB4c26pUGeLsWLcknt2s0NUEWASHINGTON — 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."
