Pentagon: No evidence that Iran seeking nukes

Press TV
January 14, 2010

The Pentagon’s top intelligence official says there is no evidence that Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons.

The chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, says the key findings of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear energy program are still valid.

“The bottom line assessments of the NIE still hold true,” he told Voice of America.

[efoods]The NIE report was a consensus judgment of all US intelligence agencies, which concluded that Iran halted all activities which could have allegedly led to the development of nuclear arms in 2003.

Burgess said the Pentagon had seen no indication that Tehran was planning to resume the program allegedly aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

“We have not seen indication that the government has made the decision to move ahead with the program. But the fact still remains that we don’t know what we don’t know,” he said.

Burgess said the Pentagon would continue to work on verifying that Iran is pursuing peaceful nuclear activities.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The Islamic Republic insists its nuclear program is solely aimed at civilian purposes and rejects the West’s allegations that it intends to pursue military objectives.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports and US National Intelligence Estimates issued so far have attested to the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran has repeatedly called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

This article was posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 12:06 pm

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