IAEA: No Proof Iran Has Nuclear Weapons Program

Leaked "Annex" Claims Iran Probably Has Technology to Create a Bomb

by Jason Ditz, September 17, 2009

The Associated Press earlier today leaked the details of what it believes is the “secret annex” to the IAEA report on Iran, which claims that the IAEA “assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device based on HEU as the fission fuel.”

The IAEA would not confirm the authenticity of the document, but reiterated that it has “no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran.”

The annex also accuses Iran of having tested explosives which could be used in such a device and that some of the warheads it is working on might be able to be used to carry a nuclear payload.

Though much has been made of the report, Iran’s hypothetical capability to make a weapon from highly enriched uranium would require them to enrich uranium to much higher levels than they are currently doing for energy production, and the IAEA has continued to verify that none of its uranium has been diverted to any such purpose.

And while the United States has repeatedly accused Iran of seeking such a weapon publicly, privately its intelligence community still stands behind its 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which expresses confidence that Iran is not actually working on weapons.

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