UN agency fears Iran may be working on nuclear weapon

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appeared to put the UN nuclear monitor on the side of Germany, France, Britain and Israel, who with other US allies have disputed the conclusions of a US intelligence assessment published three years ago which said Tehran appeared to have suspended such work in 2003.

The US assessment itself may be revised and is being looked at again by American intelligence agencies. While US officials continue to say the 2007 conclusion was valid at the time, they have not ruled out the possibility that Tehran resumed such work some time after that.

Iran denies any interest in developing nuclear arms. But the confidential report said Iran’s resistance to agency attempts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up “give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme”.

The language of the report – the first written by Yukiya Amano, who became IAEA head in December – appeared to be more directly critical of Iran’s refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those compiled by his predecessor, Mohamed El Baradei.

It suggested that intelligence supplied by the US, Israel and other IAEA member states on Iran’s attempts to use the cover of a civilian nuclear programme to move toward a weapons programme was compelling.