UN Agency: Iran Still Working Towards A-Bomb

Indications are that Iran has been working on technologies specific to nuclear weaponry, says a long awaited report from the UN Nuclear energy agency.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency outlines four activities allegedly carried out by Iranian regime it says are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device and comes as Israeli officials continue public musings about possible military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The four activities the agency found evidence for are:  

1)Efforts, some successful, to procure nuclear related and dual use equipment and materials by military related individuals and entities

2)Efforts to develop undeclared pathways for the production of nuclear material

3)The acquisition of nuclear weapons development information and documentation from a clandestine nuclear supply network

4)Work on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components 

The report findings, which had been expected after excerpts where leaked to various news agencies over the past few days, will likely get wide and repeated use as evidence of Iran’s nuclear aims as US and Europe attempt convince the international community to further isolate the regime in Tehran. 

Iranian authorities deny they are developing their nuclear program for military purposes and allege Western countries are using the issue to push their own political interest. 

Iranian broadcaster Press TV says the country’s government has rejected the report as “unbalanced” and “politically motivated”. 

The Russian Federation has reportedly also criticized the IAEA report. Bloomberg News is reporting that an emailed statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry argues that the IAEA findings are politically dishonest, and that the timing of the reports undermines security in the region. 

The IAEA says information for the report was collected from independent sources, IAEA officials, the Iranian government and from more than 10 other unidentified UN member states. 

US nuclear arsenal is safe for now, but will need to be modernized soon

“Our [nuclear] weapons are safe, reliable, and secure,” said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; “the problem is the long term prognosis, which I would characterize as bleak.” Gates spoke of the United States’ effort to reduce its nuclear arsenal while at the same time maintaining a modern nuclear stockpile to deter enemies and enable allies to depend on the United States and not seek nuclear weapons of their own.

Gates spoke extensively on the United States’s effort to reduce its massive, aging Cold War nuclear stockpile. “Within a few years, we will have 75 percent fewer nuclear weapons than at the end of the cold war,” said Gates. He added that the United States must maintain a deterrent capacity in order to prevent rogue states such as Iran and North Korea from threatening their neighbors and US allies with nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. A large number of countries rely on United States’ arsenal of weapons for protection, and without the US deterrent these countries would seek to develop their own nuclear weapons.

The United States’s nuclear arsenal is badly dated, however. “No one has designed a new nuclear weapon since the 1980s, and no one has built a new one since the early 1990s,” said Gates; “...currently the United States is the only declared nuclear power that is neither modernizing its arsenal nor has the capability of producing a new warhead.” The nuclear weapons the US currently possesses were designed to have a limited shelf life, and while it is possible to extend the shelf life for a period, this method is not as effective as building new weapons.

The nuclear development program in the US is also experiencing a brain drain, as old scientists are retiring and young scientists have little experience designing and building nuclear weapons. “By some estimates within the next several years three quarters of the work force in nuclear engineering at the national laboratories will reach retirement age,” said Gates.

To try to improve the state of the US arsenal, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy are pursuing a replacement warhead program, but Congress has refused to fund the program beyond its conceptual phase. “Let me be clear,” said Gates; “the program we propose is not about new nuclear capabilities...it is about safety, security and reliability.”

Iran not a ‘permanent enemy’

A discussion on the strategic challenges posed by Iran was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.), engaging and sanctioning should ‘go hand in hand’ when dealing with Iran.

Biden said that most Iraqi leaders want to have good relations with Iran especially since Iran’s influence in Iraq has increased over the years. He also felt that Iranians need to be made aware of how their government is isolating them from the rest of the world and misrepresenting America. In an opening statement by Ranking Minority Member Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Iran’s leaders have rebuffed the international community’s proposition to negotiate a tolerable arrangement for their nuclear program.

Witness William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, gave his testimony before the committee and also brought up Iran’s vulnerabilities. Burns pointed out that Iran has few allies, such as Cuba and Belarus, that could offer strategic reassurance and most of its neighbors keep wary relations. Furthermore, Burns said that Iran’s nuclear goals make them less secure, not more so. According to Burns, the European Union has started sanctions on Iran and a significant number of financial institutions have cut off Iran.

Despite the current impression of Iran, Burns said that Iran’s population, two thirds of which are under 30 years of age, wants to move towards modernity and better relations with the international community by way of expanded trade and economic development. Burns quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by saying that America has ‘no permanent enemies’ and would work with Iran if they were willing to 'change their ways.'