birdwatcher: (Default)
[personal profile] birdwatcher
Haaretz -- The National Intelligence Estimate, released Monday in Washington, found that Tehran froze its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and that it has remained on hold - despite Iran's continued uranium enrichment.

Responding to the report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that Iran had probably restarted its nuclear weapons program. "It seems Iran in 2003 halted for a certain period of time its military nuclear program but as far as we know it has probably since revived it," Barak told Army Radio.

Asked if the new U.S. assessment reduced chances that the U.S. will launch a military strike on Iran, Barak said that was possible.

However, he said, "We cannot allow ourselves to rest just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the earth, even if it is from our greatest friend."

Историческая справка: a little over five years ago, a deeply mistaken intelligence estimate concluded that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons programs and was planning to restart its nuclear program. The report led to congressional authorization for a military invasion of Iraq, but most of those conclusions turned out to be wrong.