Report contradicts Bush on Iran nuclear program

Washington, 2007 Dec 4, Al-Manar
 
A new U.S. intelligence report says Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and it remains on hold, contradicting the Bush administration's earlier assertion that Tehran was intent on developing a bomb.
 
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released on Monday could undermine U.S. efforts to convince other world powers to agree on a third package of U.N. sanctions against Iran for defying demands to halt uranium enrichment activities. Tensions have escalated in recent months as Washington has ratcheted up the rhetoric against Tehran, with U.S. President George W. Bush insisting in October that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three.
 
But in a finding likely to surprise U.S. friends and foes alike, the latest NIE concluded: "We do not know whether (Iran) currently intends to develop nuclear weapons." That marked a sharp contrast to an intelligence report two years ago that stated Iran was "determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 
The UN nuclear watchdog has also confirmed that Iran's nuclear program is civilian, dismissing the US allegations as baseless. The estimate comes at a time when the White House has maintained a bellicose rhetoric against Tehran over the past two years.
 
The shift in the intelligence community's thinking on Iran comes five years after a flawed NIE concluded neighboring Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction a report that helped pave the way for the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. No nuclear, chemical or biological weapons were ever found in occupied Iraq and intelligence agencies since have been more cautious about Iran's nuclear program.
 
The Democrat leader of the US Senate, Harry Reid, said he hoped the White House would undertake "a diplomatic surge" to engage with Iran. "I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," said Reid. He added that the Bush administration should emulate former President Ronald Reagan's engagement with the Soviet Union. The assessment says with "moderate confidence" that the program has not restarted.
 
Meanwhile, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held a round of telephone diplomacy with EU and US counterparts, his ministry said Tuesday, after the US report. Yang held talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana late Monday and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice early Tuesday. "The Chinese side is willing to continue to make efforts to appropriately resolve the Iranian nuclear issue," the statement quoted Yang as telling Solana in the late-night telephone call. During the discussions, Solana also briefed Yang on his recent talks with Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
 
In a call to Rice, Yang "exchanged views on the Iranian nuclear issue," it added, without going into details. China has long maintained that sanctions on Iran are not productive to resolving the row over whether Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons. Beijing has also insisted that Iran should be allowed to develop peaceful uses of nuclear technology under the oversight of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).