UN report to reveal evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons program
IAEA plans to share satellite imagery of a large steel container believed to be used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests, diplomats say.
By The Associated Press Tags: Iran nuclear Shimon Peres Benjamin NetanyahuThe UN atomic agency plans to reveal intelligence next week suggesting Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and other previously undisclosed details on alleged secret work by Tehran on nuclear arms, diplomats told The Associated Press on Friday.
Other new confidential information the International Atomic Energy Agency plans to share with its 35 board members will include satellite imagery of what the IAEA believes is a large steel container used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests, the diplomats said.
The agency has previously listed activities it says indicate possible secret nuclear weapons work by Iran, which has been under IAEA perusal for nearly a decade over suspicions that it might be interested in develop such arms.
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International Atomic Energy Agency logo |
| Photo by: AP |
But the newest compilation of suspected weapons-related work is significant in substance and scope. The diplomats say they will reveal suspicions that have not been previously made public and greatly expand on alleged weapons-related experiments that have been published in previous reports on Iran's nuclear activities.
It also comes as the drumbeat of reports about possible military action against Iran's nuclear facilities intensifies.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said Friday that the international community is closer to pursuing a military solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program than a diplomatic one. The comments, from a known dove, assumed added significance because they followed unsubstantiated reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seeking his government's support for a strike against Tehran.
British media have separately cited unnamed British officials as saying London was prepared to offer military support to any U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
In Vienna, the diplomats - from IAEA member nations - asked for anonymity because their information was privileged. One of them said the material drawn up by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano will be in an annex running around 12 pages and attached to the latest of a regular series of agency reports on Iran's nuclear enrichment program and other activities that could be used to arm nuclear missiles.
Previously undisclosed information contained in the annex, said the diplomats, will include:
- Intelligence from unnamed member states that a bus-sized steel container, located at the Iranian military base of Parchin is likely being used for nuclear-related high explosives testing of the kind needed to release an atomic blast. The agency has satellite imagery of the container.
- Expanded evidence that Iranian engineers worked on computer models of nuclear payloads for missiles.
Significantly, said the diplomats, these alleged experiments took place after 2003 … the year that Iran was believed to have stopped secret work on nuclear weapons, according to a 2007 U.S. intelligence assessment. But diplomats have told the AP that Tehran continued arms-related experiments in a less concentrated way after that date, a view reflected by recent IAEA reports that have detailed suspicions that such work may be continuing up to the present.
The annex will also say that more than 10 nations have supplied intelligence suggesting Iran is secretly developing components of a nuclear arms program - among them an implosion-type warhead that it wants to mount on a ballistic missile.
It says that two foreign "sources" - apparently countries or nongovernment groups within countries - have helped Iran develop a weapons design, without naming them. And it details how Iran bought "dual use" - peaceful or military - nuclear technology from the black market network of renegade Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan, as well as alleged preparations for a nuclear weapons test.
The upcoming report is meant to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic republic to stop four years of stonewalling of IAEA experts seeking to follow up intelligence of such secret weapons-related experiments.
Iran denies such activities, asserting that they are based on intelligence fabricated by Washington. It also denies that its uranium enrichment program - under UN Security Council sanctions because it could manufacture fissile warhead material - is meant for anything else but making nuclear fuel.
In his previous report in September, Amano said he was "increasingly concerned" about a stream of intelligence suggesting that Iran continues to work secretly on developing a nuclear payload for a missile and other components of a nuclear weapons program.
He said "many member states" are providing evidence for that assessment, describing the information the agency is receiving as credible, "extensive and comprehensive."
That report warned of the "possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities" linked to weapons work. In particular, said the report, the agency continues to receive new information about "activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."
Acquired from "many" member states, the information possessed by the IAEA is "extensive and comprehensive ... (and) broadly consistent and credible," said the report.
The U.S. and its Western allies on the Security Council hope the upcoming report will be strong enough to persuade the IAEA board at its mid-November meeting to report it anew to the council. It was the board that first referred Iran to the Security Council in 2006 - a move that led to a series of sanctions punishing Tehran for its nuclear defiance.
If that fails, they would like a board resolution setting a deadline of only a few months for Iran to start cooperating with the agency's probe - or face the prospect of renewed Security Council referral at the next board meeting in March.
One of the diplomats said that Iran was given a copy of the annex earlier this week, giving a chance for comment that would be included when the report is shared with board members. Iran initially refused to accept a copy of the report, he said, reflecting its rejection of the allegations.
A call requesting comment left on the cell phone of Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, was not immediately returned.
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The Iran-Iraq war would count as both recent and as attacking another country -- and you can add that to internal attacks on progressive forces and Kurdish and Sunni minorities.
Iran lets its surrogates Hamas and Hezbollah do the "dirty" work.
while IAEA spy on Iran 24/7 they dont care one bit to dismantle israeli nukes.
israel is calling for its destiny ... we live in multilateral world ... i dont belive it is possible a long term survival for a small country like israel which surrounded by its enemies....
I do not want death and destruction in the war
We are going to see a replay of the lies that accused Iraq and Afghanistan for military action. The intellectuals of the world have been so idiotized and infantilized that they a accepted a fairly tale of 911 as a justification for invasion and destruction of two weak nation states. The human beasts that orchestrated those invasions are doing the same now. What can you expect in world where even intellectuals are so credulous?
Lieberman is stupid and the continuation of the war with the Arabs will make us look for safe places for my children
And this isn't about Lieberman, Arabs or anti-Semites posing with Jewish names.
All the soft-ware responsible for refining ballistic delivery system's is designed by Jewish scientists They deliberately disclose those protocol to Iran
So if you see one then it MUST be being used to test nukes, right? Deja vu..... see these big trailers? Nobody has trailers this big, right? So they MUST be mobile anthrax labs, right?
India has it, Pakistan has it, N. Korea has it. Any country that wants it and can afford it will have it. If Iran wants a nuclear bomb, she will get it. It is inevitable. The problem is that those who do have it don't want anyone else to get it. But US 8th Fleet HQ is in Bahrain, US troops are in Afghanistan, and little ol' Israel constantly threatens to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. What would you do if you were the Ayatollah? One thing about a nuclear bomb: it does command immense respect.
This has nothing to do with exclusiveness. It has to do with in whose hands such a doomsday weapon is. If Samoa gets it, it means no threat. If Iran has it, it is an existential threat for Israel, the West, and the USA.
10 yaes ago the usa had steve jobs bob hope johnny cash new the have no jobs no hope no cash
Here is the give-away that this story is false: "Iran is secretly developing components of a nuclear arms program - among them an implosion-type warhead that it wants to mount on a ballistic missile." As any butt-head who has five minutes of familiarity with weapons physics knows, a uranium-235 weapon uses gun assembly, not implosion, to achieve criticality. The Iranians have no plutonium production capability and therefore don't need implosion technology.
We all know that a gun mechanism was used with the first bomb, 'Little Boy'. We all know that implosion is necessary for a plutonium bomb, but could it be that implosion might work with U-235 just as it does for plutonium? If so, could implosion have some advantages over a gun mechanism, such as reducing the overall size and weight of the weapon, and reducing the mass of U-235 required?
France has tried many implosive U-235 devices successfully at Muroroa. The Iranian site at ARAK priduces plutonium. Your point is simply wrong.
I can hear the same sounds and pictures are being shown by IAEA those were shown by Powell to UNSC before Iraq war. But this time your own destruction awaits in the hands of Iranians not otherwise. Iran is not Iraq.
"Believes", "might", "could", "may", "possibly" Sorry Israel and the US, the world doesn't believe your lies anymore. Or the lies of the puppet the US installed (according to cables released by WikiLeaks).
LOL
Good luck.... LOL
It was the fabricated WMD's in Iraq that the USA used to attack Iraq. Maybe history is repeating itself so soon with another fabrication. This time it is Iran!
When will the world address the country that has at the very least 200 nuclear weapons along with a delivery system? That country is Israel and the world seems far too cowed by Israel to do anything about it. It is past time that Israel is forced to live up to the same standards as the other countries with nukes.
The world once laughed at Gaddafi when he mentioned that all what he needed was a little nuclear bomb. Who is laughing now when Iran is almost ready to produce such a nuclear briefcase or a suitcase bomb with the best of money could buy. Iran will play the game till the day it masters a new generation of bomb that Hitler dreamed of. I have a book in the process of being published soon that will point at the wounded Iran that will do anything to claim its Persian empire back.
what's obama gonna do...he PLEDGED not to allow them nukes...PLEDGED. So...what's it gonna be Mr. Experienced foreign policy guy?
But keep on being ignorant, some people need that for staying sane!
When will make peace and have normal life?
in case you have got some......
deja vu a mad leader talking about exterminating a nation
A computer model? Dual use technology?? Unnamed sources?? The IAEA is a joke. The west wants to go to war over this evidence? Russia is not going to go along with this like it did with Iraq. In fact I wouldn't doubt if Russia gets militarily involved on the side of Iran. Looks like 2012 is gonna be a bloody year.
Israel, not Iran, is a threat.
Lebanon declared war on Israel in 1948 and has signed no peace deal with Israel. If they don't want be invaded, they know what to do. Egyt, Jordan, Syria attacked Israel 3 times, but hey who's counting.
The known enrichment plants are under IAEA observations and don't produce more than 20% enriched Uranium. You need about 90% enrichment for a bomb. If Iran has some secret enrichment plant, it will not be attacked because it is unknown. We heard about various computer programs, even one simulating a nuclear explosion. The computer programs were no doubt copied, so you wouldn't eradicate them by bombs. The steel container suspected for researching high explosives may be for nukes, but if one was built, another will be built underground somewhere else. At this point, the only way to stop Iran from WANTING nukes is to take over Iran, as Bush did to Iraq. It was an idiotic enterprise then, and this one would carry worse consequences. The situation calls for sanctions, not a military attack.
What about around 200 nuclear weapons at the of illegal immigrants in Palestine? Iran does not have even one nuclear bomb while illegal immigrants in Palestine have around 200 nuclear bombs and other WMDs.
We are Jews, we retirned to our homeland, we are a UN-member state, a democracy. Now eat your heart out, anti-Semite.
Nobody is going to believe it. The only rationale for this 'revelation' could be to provoke panic in Iran, and a first strike. Don't buy it, Mullahs
israeli warmongers.
Do you need to be reminded WHO it is that's always threatening - and attacking - its neighbors? What's going on here, more than anything else, is that the neighborhood bully doesn't want anyone else having a big club!
distruction of Irans nuclear weapons, not Iran. While Iran has called for the distruction of IsraeL
Iran is the only country which repeatedly calls for the entire country of Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth. No other UN member state does that, much less in impunity. Israel never, ever, has called for a genocide. It has called for the nuclear weapons' in the hands of the genocidal Ayatollahs of Iran to be stopped, and with logic, reason and rights. Israel enjoyed diplomatic relations with Iran between 1950 and 1979. It would love to have those peacefully again. It's the Iranian regime which says it wants to have relations with the entire world, except Israel.
Iran's regime has murdered countless innocent people both at home and abroad. Iran is behind the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Americans. Iran is behind terror attacks by Hizbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Iran is responsible for assassinations and assassination attempts. Now Iran threatens the world with a nuclear winter. Iran has engaged in war.
From 4 Israel Citizen 1 is living in severe poverty! Why you not spend your energy to convince your government to reduce their efforts starting war against Iran and resolve poverty in Israel ????
What else?
Israel never threatened the arabs with nuclear war. They always fought the arab aggressions in 1967-73-84-etc. with conventional weapons even though they had possession of the bomb. iran, even before they achieve possession of the bomb threatens to wipe out Israel of the face of the world. Israel is strictly defensive. Israel has advanced world culture medicine science. Islam has given nothing to the world accept murderers hatred & bombers.
It's time for the world to act. Iran is threatening the world with a nuclear holocaust. There has been enough talk, now it's time for action.
Here we go again: believe, suspicions, likely being used, anonymous diplomats. Drumbeats of war
hehehe i like it when they iran has weapons what about the us what about israel clean countires ??? IS IT just a repeat for iraq this world is so dirty and filthy we do they need now petrolium like iraq hehehe
If Iran doesn't launch a pre-emptive strike on israel and it's nukes, Israel will do it to Iran instead. Someone needs to at least restrain those Israelis once and for all and teach them to live in peace with their neighbors.
israel=threat to this world peace.
nowhere as colorful as Saddam's alleged aluminum tubes, mobile virus chambers, yellow cake from Niger, etc., etc., the hype never ends does it?
it seems that israel already have decided that Iran have nukes, israel is a regime covered in prejudice about arabs and muslims.
they never end.
Any fool believing them about not pursuing a military nuclear program will also not believe in the Holocaust and will accept their empty argument that Iran is 100 times more democratic than the USA, as Ahmadinejad previously claimed while in New York. Iran won't budge on the West's concerns about it until the Regime hears the opening clicks of stealth aircraft bomb bays overhead.
enough is enough. stop being violent israel!
If Israel strikes Iran, it is most assuredly their end...so what gain? Why the push? What do those in the Israeli government get from this war??? Anybody????
The US has never won a war and each country they have invaded has been left devastated, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and they are the only country in history to actually use an atomic bomb. And the intelligence from this country is to be believed?
dont you have any shame?
It's bombing time ! I hope the first strike is a B2 run on Ahmadinejad's house then a drone strike to take out the "Supreme Leader"... wooohooooo !!!!!!
It is to be hoped that you haven't and will not breed.
taking in regard israel violent history?
the annex been sleeping for so many years why wake up now you want war or war of words you get both the end is coming
Remember Libya? If Iran is not stopped now we will have IslamicFascism that would try to take over the world and kill all gentiles and Jews. I hope Israel will do their job well by destroying most of nuclear facilities there. I have a suspicion that Europe will be on it too... Ahmadinejad the Midget mouth about to be shut down just like sadam hussein...
I can asure you that Europe will not participate in any warfare activities in Iran. If you want to have a war with a country thats 10x as big as you, then you should try fighting it on your own. By the way, this comes awfully close to Palestines acceptance into UNESCO. I hope this is not just a weak and sick diversionary tactic this current right wing government. Cheers to all Israelis on the political left, who want peace and solidarity in the middle east. You've got my support! best regards from vienna!
A 'bus-sized steel container' ( cargo container??) - doesn't matter, Colin is very good with this sort of severely limited material . Maybe Obama will do a remake of the Bush 'wheres those pesky WMD mock video' - Fun times ahead - NOT!
so drenched in warmongering its ugly. Have you no shame?
1400 died in Gaza, israeli regime have no limit.
It shows that when some israeli intelligence personnel among the military & the Govt brings up Iran's ambition and the danger to the whole ME and beyond posters et all accuse the Israeli Govt of surviving solely by war.. A wrong and utterly unverifyable to say the least. perhaps the UN at last will show its fangs dealing with this issue seriously without another a further tap on the hand but and shrugging it again in another couple of months or so..This has not been dealt rigorously for a very long time,and it has festered ..Time to put the money where the mouth is
who are you fooling kid?
Not with the Islamic bloc.
Not with the Islamic bloc.
Israel has no interest in using their nuclear weapons as anything but a deterrent, while Iran is a country that funds terrorist organizations that would *love* to get their hands on one of those.
So how many years have you been covering your ears anyway? Iran's nuclear program has been around for a long time.
I remeber at the time that Israel was pushing for a war to Sadam because the so calle evidence of weapon of mass destruction. After a catastrofic war not only to Irak no evidence of WOMD was founf. Would be this time the same?
That possibility was brought up recently.
Israel NEVER pushed or the Iraq war; When Israel saw Saddam's nuke program in the 80's, they acted on their own. The Iraq war was an American project that had ZERO to do with Israel. Your hateful ignorance is beneath contempt. Making up facts and revising history proves that your opinions have no validity whatsoever.
Pure and utter speculation here. I've just read elsewhere (bbcnews) that this report will conclude that there is no evidence of atomic weapon research so one of you must be wrong! We'll wait and see eh?
no evidence as always just wild speculation to get love from the warmongering israelis.
If Israel developed nukes they were not the first in the region. I would think that India and or pakistan had them earlier.
by invading Israel in 1948
By 1967 Israel had already developed nukes. The Kennedy administration knew it and wanted to inspect Dimona. When the inspectors came Israel hid every evidence that they were producing nukes. It took several years before either India or Pakistan had nuclear weapons. It would be great to have a nuclear free Middle East but, as you know, Israel does not want that as she wants to be the only countty with nuclear weapons. Someday she may regret that she refused to push for a nuclear-free ME.
And where did this 'evidence' come from? Dissenters? Defectors? How much were they paid? The reality is, there is still no real hard and conclusive evidence. None. Not a skerrick. Yet Israel and their allies want to start WW3 based on this nonsense. And for what? All so the Zionists can have their Greater Israel. Utter madness!
The free world has shown total cowardice in its lack of serious action to stop Iran. They know that sanctions will not stop Iran, but continue to talk about more sanctions as if they are the answer. Woe to the world if Iran succeeds. Nato' recent comments about Syria and Iran and Nato's unwillingness to act show that they are a waste of space and money.
Time to sit down, breathe deeply, clear the mind of any noise, and ponder with no less depth and reason than the greatest men at the greatest, gravest hour. May Ben Gurion's, Churchill's wisdom and courage, along with Peres' living clarity, guide the USA, the EU, the UK, and specially Israel, in this hour of truth. May Netanyahu grow from a slimy fox into a selfless, lucid leader, for one moment in his life. As Pirkei Avot (Mishnah's aphorisms) says: "There is no man without his hour" (of greatness). May G'd defeat the devil, and may the innocent ones be spared. Shabbat Shalom, Fortuna.
Shabbat shalom fortuna Kol Hakavod
which two times Oleg ?
please come to new york, you will be safe here and yes all, leave the ME. its not safe for you or your kids. new york loves you. we wil support you with american taxes and aipac funds , please come fast , come all
Jews made a miracle with the Jewish Land of Israel. In just 60 years they are higly developed and prospering. On the other hands any one of muslim regimes is getting worse and worse killing their own citizens, torism almost stopped due to ongoing slaughter called arab spring. Israel of today can wipe any enemy off the face of the earth. And suicidal islamic regimes know thaqt rather well... The only democracy in the ME is there growing by leaps and bounce and now is called Developed Naation just like Germany, USA, Belgium and so on..
Countries that have easier means of attacking Iran. If they want let them go. Those countries are not constantly on defence against their neighbours like Israel is. If Israel makes a move on Iran then Iran will retaliate with the help of Hezbollah and every militant group in Gaza. Who is to say that even if Israel does not attack Iran but either USA,Britain, or France do...that Hezbollah might not attack anyway ? Sorry to say but Israel needs to concentrate on the Palestinian issue and Hezbollah not Iran. Let the others tend to Iran.
Non stop have done so for years now Terry
Why is Israel planning, on a daily basis, to attack Iran?
American in NY: Israel is among those that shouts the loudest....
it's government might be opressive but they have never tried to start a war with anyone else
Intelligence on israels nuclear weapons- maybe then we all will be surprised!
You forget ,so it goes everytime.Same subject churned ad-nauseum.
You are just curious like a CAT.What os more If israel has the nukes,(and she isn't telling) take it for granted because she Like India & Pakistan are not signatories to the NPTaccept it ..........
So if Iran removes itself as a signatory this issue will be resolved?
More lurid delusions from the feckless leftists.
your beloveed regime.
Judging by the responses you send
Thats rich coming from you, how about America gets rid of its nuclear weapons 1st, as its the only country in the world that has ever used such a weapon, not once, bot twice.
enough is enough. the time has come for the world to act - prudently, calmly, but decisively - and remove by any means necessary this grave threat to world peace
Israel? Iran? Or both?
Shalom.
A country that has NEVER attacked anyone since its inception as an Islamic republic? Yet is threatened itself constantly? Wake up, weirdos.
...against Israel, who has hundreds of undeclared, illegal and clandestine nuclear weapons. The international community should remove by any means necessary this grave threat to world peace.
The world needs to rid the world of such pariahs, violating international laws, committing war crimes, wars of aggression, occupation, and the list goes on. It you "Israel" which is the greatest threat to the world. Willing to run it off a cliff just for it's selfish wants. What a pathetic welfare state. Join the international community for once and abide by it's rules. Iran is no threat. The only threat you talk about is equality, and justice for all, regardless of religion. But I know it's very hard for you to fathom the very idea.
israel has never said it wanted to wipe out a people, even the ones sending bombs at them daily.. imadinnerjacket has said he wants to wipe israel off the map, and says death to america and israel all the time.. what evidence do you want, a nuke test in iran desert, tel avive lit up and a million killed, like imadinnerjacket would love... if they are not creating weapons then let inspectors look everywhere to see for sure?
Abbas you blew it, no one buys your tired schtick any more. Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and the Mullahs of Iran. It's all going down, your days are very small now. The strong horse will now make its play and you'll all be neutralized.
God sets the borders for Israel, not man, if you don't believe it, check out Ezekiel chapter 37 whith deals with the rebirth of the nation of Israel, and also what God will do with the nations who try to destroy Israel.
An Iranian nuclear device will be used sooner rather than later. Iran has experimented with launching short-range (300 miles) ballistic missiles from containers on ships. That means the US east and west coasts are at risk once Iran deploys a weapon. Israel is not alone in being at risk. There are thousands of ships at sea.
Your myopic example infers that anyone with such technology is a threat to the US and should be eliminated as such. Btw this include the uk, china and Russia! So? Ow about it shall we kill everyone who develops the same tech as the US?
New Zealand, Nova Scotia and the South Sea Isles will not be nuked anytime soon.
Yes the US is at reisk,but what does Obama do, he just talks about it being a danger to the world,and does nothing ..At least he should react more aggresively even verbally if nothing else.. The US is now at the crossroads on this equation matters are getting more than serious, it has become almost armagedonish...
Iran is threatened 24/7 by israeli nukes. grasp some objectivity.
of danger and evil. If you don't see that, well . . .