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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at the country's declared nuclear facility in Natanz in April. (AP)
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PM: Israel will work to expose Iran nuclear program
By Shmuel Rosner and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: United States, Iran, Israel 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told ministers on Sunday that Israel would continue to work alongside the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to expose covert Iranian activities and investigate its military program to develop nuclear weapons, despite efforts by Tehran to stymie their efforts.

He said that, based a U.S. intelligence report released last week, Iran is enriching enough uranium to have a nuclear weapon within three years.

"Iran is continuing its efforts to enrich uranium, and according to the report is set to accumulate sufficient amounts to produce nuclear weapons by 2010," Olmert told his political-security cabinet.
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The cabinet was holding special deliberations on Sunday on a new United States intelligence assessment which states that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Israeli officials have conducted a quiet campaign aimed at exposing the deficiencies of the National Intelligence Estimate.

Olmert said that Israel's stance on the Iranian nuclear program would not change despite the U.S. report.

"According to the assessment, Iran had a nuclear weapons program until at least 2003 and there is no positive report giving any explanation of where this program has disappeared to," he said.

He added that it was necessary for the world to "continue to act against Iran and even increase" international sanctions against it.

Israel "will continue its political ties with the U.S. and its intelligence sources, as well as with political and intelligence sources from other leading states, in order strengthen the realization that we must not loosen our grip from our close monitoring of Iranian activities," said Olmert.

Trade, Industry and Labor Minister Eli Yishai said at the start of the meeting that the U.S. report should not lead Israel to diminish the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.

"The American report... is the last thing that will allay Israel's fears," said Yishai, at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting. "The Iranian threat is real, and Iran's intentions will never change. We must not allow ourselves to lower our level of alertness."

U.S. observers from the right and left have told Haaretz that the report, released a week ago, would have no impact on U.S. public opinion or its effect will erode, adding that its deficiencies would become increasingly apparent.

Report: U.K. believes Iran fed misinformation to U.S. spies
A senior British official said the country's intelligence analysts believe Iran has deliberately fed misinformation about its nuclear program to U.S. spy agencies and are skeptical Tehran halted weapons development in 2003, a newspaper reported Sunday.

"We are skeptical about the report's findings," an unidentified senior British official was quoted as saying by The Sunday Telegraph. "It's not as if the American intelligence are regarded as brilliant performers in that region."

The official claimed that Iranian nuclear employees must have been aware the U.S. was secretly listening to telephone conversations, according to the newspaper.

"They [the Iranians] say things on the phone because they know we are up on the phones. They say black is white," the official was quoted as saying.

Iran, meanwhile, has sent a formal protest note to Washington for spying on Iran's nuclear activities.

Britain's Foreign Office, which is responsible for British foreign spy agency MI6, said it could not comment on intelligence matters.

"The intelligence estimate that came out this week talked about the weaponization part of nuclear weapons programs - one of three parts," Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Sky News on Sunday.

"There are two other critical parts to a nuclear weapons program - the enrichment, which we know is going on because they boast about it, and secondly the missile testing," he said.

Miliband said Britain would continue to press for tighter sanctions against Tehran.

U.S. official: Report ignored overt enrichment facility
Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, told Haaretz Friday that the report ignored the uranium enrichment at the Iranian city of Natanz because this project was not secret.

The congressman from California said the intelligence community was only interested in secrets, and the media simply focused on what was new.

Sherman said that while the report effectively removed the military option for both Israel and the United States and complicated Russian and Chinese support for sanctions, a "pushback" against the report had begun.

Wednesday's edition of The Washington Post stated that the report was an insufficient substitute for a clear signal that Iran intended to cooperate with the international community.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal also questioned the report in their editorials. Gary Samore, an arms control expert in the Clinton administration, told The Los Angeles Times that the report had not sufficiently stressed Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Anthony Lake, a former Clinton national security adviser and now adviser to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, focused on Iran's uranium enrichment activities and concerns over the fate of sanctions.

Leonard Spector and James Martin of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies shared the assessment of many Washington experts when they wrote that Iran has not stopped working toward its nuclearization goal, but has simply changed the order of its activities.

The experts discuss whether the report's authors formulated it as they did because they want to stop the Bush administration from attacking Iran, or because they were simply unaware of the way the report would be received.

Senior politicians are treading with caution. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said he wanted to learn more about the report, while Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada said a Senate investigation committee should be established to study the paper.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned >remarks made by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who over the weekend lashed out at
Iran for seeking to cause chaos and demanded its neighbors push Tehran to renounce its nuclear program.

"Basically, this expression is an intervention in the domestic affairs of the regional countries," ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters.

But Hosseini said Gates' comments on Saturday and other activities by the U.S. have not succeeded in creating differences among the countries.

In his speech during a global security conference in the neighboring Arab country of Bahrain, Gates appealed to Persian Gulf nations to support penalties designed to force Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment. Those nations, Gates said, also should demand that Iran openly affirm that it does not intend to develop nuclear weapons in the future.

Iranian officials had abruptly decided not to participate in the security conference. Hosseini said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not attend because he was busy with various agendas in Tehran.

Related articles:
  • Israeli policy on Tehran unchanged by American assessment
  • Livni, at NATO: There is no doubt Iran is seeking nuclear arms
  • Bush: World must continue to pressure Iran despite nuke report
  • U.S.: Iran halted nuclear weapons development in 2003
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      1.   Where the truth means nothing 04:01  |  Sandra 09/12/07
      2.   US State Dept Treachery - the NIA 04:13  |  Chuck 09/12/07
      3.   I do not know what dope those `experts` are smoking but 04:37  |  Mark Lincoln 09/12/07
      4.   If they don`t made a threat? May be? 04:44  |  cristo 09/12/07
      5.   WARMONGERS ARE ALL OVER WASHINGTON 05:06  |  indrajaya 09/12/07
      6.   SnRS 06:25  |  Sam 09/12/07
      7.   what are you smoking #6 worker bee... 06:26  |  joki 09/12/07
      8.   Unanimous finding 06:32  |  Intelligent Guy 09/12/07
      9.   Fear Itself 06:43  |  DoubleClick 09/12/07
      10.   "CRISIS" equals "JOBS for EXPERTS" 06:46  |  DoubleClick 09/12/07
      11.   MORONS 06:47  |  JJ 09/12/07
      12.   twenty-one words 06:51  |  Maurice Samuel 09/12/07
      13.   #6 is a nazi/muslim anti-semite 07:02  |  steven 09/12/07
      14.   US OPINION HAS ALREADY CHANGED 07:07  |  Arik Silverman 09/12/07
      15.   Uranium Enrichment is legal under NPT 07:21  |  Adel 09/12/07
      16.   Who did Rosner interview from the "left"? 07:45  |  Galuteus Maximus 09/12/07
      17.   #12 - Speaking of morons, JJ 07:45  |  JES 09/12/07
      18.   US public opinion 07:58  |  James 09/12/07
      19.   On public opinion 08:06  |  Profesora Isadora 09/12/07
      20.   Harrry Reid Believes and Wants it to be True 08:26  |  Mike 09/12/07
      21.   NO nukes now but why missiles that are useless without WMD`s? 08:42  |  PETER SM 09/12/07
      22.   Lincoln-What purpose the Iranian missile program? 08:45  |  Stephen in New York 09/12/07
      23.   Worker Bee 08:47  |  Stephen in New York 09/12/07
      24.   Tell You What`s Going To Happen Now 10:26  |  Yosemite 09/12/07
      25.   #3, sixteen agencies say otherwise 10:35  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      26.   3Mark Lincoln, NIA report =Evidence for N. Bomb program 1983-2003 10:48  |  Rob 09/12/07
      27.   15Adel So why is IAEA still unhappy with Iran? 10:55  |  Rob 09/12/07
      28.   #12 Maurice Samuel: rising IQ of the public; 10:59  |  observer 09/12/07
      29.   Absence of Evidence is not Evidence for Absence 11:02  |  Professor of Logics 09/12/07
      30.   25Cipora Julianna Kohn: Clear as a bell! 11:09  |  Rob 09/12/07
      31.   So what? 11:10  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      32.   # 24, YOSEMITE 11:17  |  indrajaya 09/12/07
      33.   Zionist warmongers in a major damage limitation exercise 11:17  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      34.   Brad Sherman, another member of the American Jewish Lobby 11:21  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      35.   #21, Peter SM, also the heavy water reactor 11:24  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      36.   Soviet ideologues and Iranian ideologues 11:27  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/12/07
      37.   Since when? 11:28  |  Texan 09/12/07
      38.   # 5 Indrajaya, Great point! 11:35  |  Dutch 09/12/07
      39.   Arms Lobby propaganda 11:39  |  Dav 09/12/07
      40.   uhh, Duhh, guess everything`s okay now... 11:45  |  Dave 09/12/07
      41.   # 38, DUTCH 12:05  |  indrajaya 09/12/07
      42.   #36, Dino 12:08  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      43.   people who call themselves `intelligent guy` usually 12:12  |  aren`t 09/12/07
      44.   Clickfool`s `thinking` is dominated by 12:17  |  Israeli 09/12/07
      45.   $41, indy from jakarta 12:23  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      46.   # 3 Mark Lincoln 12:23  |  Bob 09/12/07
      47.   Hardly surprising... 12:30  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 09/12/07
      48.   # 42 Cipora Julianna Kohn 12:44  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/12/07
      49.   #46, Bob 12:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      50.   Iran is off the agenda 12:50  |  spyguy 09/12/07
      51.   To # 38 DUTCH 12:51  |  The Teacher/Instruct 09/12/07
      52.   The Political Putsch. Yes we have no secrets. 12:51  |  Stephen. 09/12/07
      53.   #48, Dino 12:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
      54.   USA + Israel sound bloodthirsty = warmongering 13:06  |  POP 09/12/07
      55.   To # 52 STEPHEN 13:08  |  The Teacher/Instruct 09/12/07
      56.   We`re fortunate to have Stephen from Geneva on Talkback # 52 13:08  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      57.   #36 Swiss Dino: MAD Was Not So Stable as You Think 13:10  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 09/12/07
      58.   SPYGUY.IRAN has probably stopped for the moment 13:18  |  PETER SM 09/12/07
      59.   Today`s New York Times.Oil rich nations now importing oil 13:27  |  Toronto`s Finest 09/12/07
      60.   Peter SM, repeating the old tired Zionist lie # 58 13:31  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      61.   #31 Clickfool 13:31  |  silenced voices 09/12/07
      62.   #51 The Teacher 13:32  |  H 09/12/07
      63.   CFOOL In damage controll YOU said Iran WILL have nukes 13:34  |  PETER SM 09/12/07
      64.   War mongers. Ask yourself what would Iran gain from nuking anyone 13:36  |  Toronto`s Finest 09/12/07
      65.   USA starts Iran Nuclear Program. Now, Iran drops USD for OIL!!!!! 13:36  |  POP 09/12/07
      66.   The article is wrong. The US public doesn`t want another war. 13:42  |  Michael 09/12/07
      67.   For Peter SM again # 63 13:47  |  Clickfool 09/12/07
      68.   Disclaimer 13:53  |  Mike 09/12/07
      69.   T o # 48 GRAND IDEA 13:56  |  The Teacher/Instruct 09/12/07
      70.   #61 be brave 13:58  |  Rab 09/12/07
      71.   61 RE Cfool/silenced voices 14:02  |  SA SMASH 09/12/07
      72.   CFOOL All they said is it came to a halt in 2003 14:04  |  PETER SM 09/12/07
      73.   Nobody should be worried 14:10  |  John 09/12/07
      74.   Disinformation 14:12  |  Hilda 09/12/07
      75.   HOW do you suggest the Mullahs intend to bring on "regime change" 14:13  |  PETER SM 09/12/07
      76.   # 49 Cipora, part 1 14:20  |  Bob