US intel said to believe Iranian nuclear research paving easier path to bomb
WSJ says recent US intelligence report assessed Iran is now better positioned to assemble a nuke ‘if it chooses to do so,’ noted ‘topic becoming less taboo’ in Islamic Republic
American spies believe Iran is better positioned to restart its nuclear weapons program thanks to research activities it has conducted, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
According to the newspaper, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned in a report to Congress last month that Iran has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”
It also said the report did not include a long-running assertion by US intelligence that Tehran “isn’t currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device.”
A US official however told the Journal however that the American intelligence community does not think Iran has yet made a decision to break out for a bomb, but its path to one could be eased should it decide to pull the trigger.
While officials do not think the research will shorten the time needed to break out to a bomb, it “could shrink the knowledge gap Tehran faces in mastering the ability to build a weapon,” the US official said, without giving details about Iran’s recent nuclear work.
The assessment also reportedly says “there has been a notable increase this year in Iranian public statements about nuclear weapons, suggesting the topic is becoming less taboo,” and that whether Iran ultimately decides to build a nuke or not, it still wants to use its atomic program “for negotiation leverage and to respond to perceived international pressure.”
“Iran doesn’t have an active military nuclear program,” a spokeswoman for Haines’ offices said in response to the reporting.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Iran can now produce the necessary fissile material for an atomic bomb in as little as a week or two, but similarly assessed that it has yet to take steps to assemble a weapon.
He also said at the time that the US would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, adding the administration still prefers a diplomatic route to preventing this scenario.
Since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018, Iran has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels. Western powers say there is no credible civilian reason for that. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but officials have recently said the Islamic Republic could change its “nuclear doctrine” if it is attacked or its existence is seen as threatened by Israel, prompting alarm at the International Atomic Energy Agency and in Western capitals.
Reports last month before Iran’s presidential election indicated Iran’s leadership was considering whether to go ahead with producing a nuclear weapon. Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for “constructive relations” with Western countries to “get Iran out of its isolation” and favors reviving the 2015 deal.
Amid the recent concerns, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly reestablished a series of working groups to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.
Agencies contributed to this report.
