Iran has consistently denied their nuclear program was for anything except civilian power generation yet all the evidence suggests the opposite. Even the IAEA has said the concerns about Irans nuclear program are credible and that there is little reason to believe Irans claim of a peaceful nuclear program. When Iran does come out of the closet and admit to what they are doing, it will be only a matter of time until we see a pile of rubble where once the reactor at Natanz stood.
This article will not make any difference to those who say Iran is not, and never will be a threat. They will dismiss it as easily as they dismiss any talk of sharia, or Islamic doctrine regarding Jews. Shia theology demands Iran start the apocalypse in order to bring about the return of the mahdi and the rise of the 12th caliphate. A nuclear bomb or two will certainly kick-start the end of the world as we know it.
From AP/Yahoo July 22 by George Jahn
AP Exclusive: Iran prez said pushing for nukes
VIENNA (AP) — Iran's president wants to shed the nation's secrecy and forge ahead openly with developing nuclear weapons but is opposed by the clerical leadership, which is worried about international reaction to such a move, says an intelligence assessment shared with The Associated Press.
That view, from a nation with traditionally reliable intelligence from the region, cannot be confirmed and contrasts with assessments by other countries that view Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as relatively moderate on the nuclear issue compared to the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Attempts to interpret Iran's goals are important because as it expands uranium enrichment, it is moving closer to being able to make a nuclear weapon by the day, even as it asserts that it is not interested in such arms and its programs are geared only to making reactor fuel.
A U.S. official cited one assessment he has seen suggesting Ahmadinejad may be more "moderate" — more open to talks with the international community on resolving nuclear concerns than Khamenei. He asked for anonymity because his information was privileged.
But a blunt comment by Ahmadinejad last month raises questions. While repeating that Iran does not want nuclear arms, he openly reinforced its ability to make them, telling Iranian state TV that "if we want to make a bomb, we are not afraid of anybody."
Ahmadinejad is pushing "to shake free of the restraints Iran has imposed upon itself, and openly push forward to create a nuclear bomb," says the assessment. But Khamenei, whose word is final on nuclear and other issues, "wants to progress using secret channels, due to concern about a severe response from the West," says the report.
Officials at the Iranian president's office were not available for comment Friday.
The varying views reflect the difficulties that intelligence agencies face when probing a secretive nation that plays its cards close to its chest. Lines of division are murky. Alliances shift and positions change, leaving governments and private analysts frustrated as they try to nail down Tehran's nuclear end game.
They converge, however in noting that recent political divisions between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei have spilled over to encompass Iran's nuclear activities to a greater degree than before.
While much about Iran's nuclear program is opaque, the growing capacity — if not the intention — to make weapons is on the record, captured in International Atomic Energy Agency reports documenting the expansion of Iran's enrichment program from its clandestine beginnings more than a decade ago to one that has produced enough material for more than two nuclear bombs.
More recently Iran has begun enriching to higher levels that would lessen the time needed to make weapons-grade material. And its stonewalling of an IAEA probe based on U.S. and other intelligence of secret work on components of a nuclear weapons program is adding to concerns raised by Tehran's refusal to freeze enrichment despite U.N. sanctions.
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