The Bush administration has agreed to turn over to international inspectors intelligence data it has collected that it says proves Iran worked on developing a nuclear weapon until a little more than four years ago, according to American and foreign diplomats. The decision reverses the United StatesÂ’ longstanding refusal to share the data, citing the need to protect intelligence sources. The administration acted as the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to issue a report as early as next week on IranÂ’s past nuclear activities. Administration officials hope that the nuclear inspectors can now confront Iran with what the Americans believe is the strongest evidence that the Iranians had a nuclear program.
The Bush administrationÂ’s refusal to turn over the data has been a source of friction with Mohammed ElBaradei, the
But it remains unclear how much of the data Dr. ElBaradei will be allowed to disclose to the Iranians. In particular, it is not clear if the information includes diagrams and designs that were secretly taken out of Iran on a laptop computer in 2004 and turned over to the Central Intelligence Agency.
| It's likely clear to us and to El Baradei, even if it isn't clear to the New York Times. |
The Bush administrationÂ’s decision came two months after the publication of a
On Sunday, in an interview with Fox News, Mr. Bush made it clear that he disagreed with the idea that the intelligence estimate lowered the threat from Iran. “Iran is a threat, and that’s what the N.I.E. said, if you read it carefully,” he said. “It showed they had a weapons — secret military weapons program, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have another secret weapons military program.”
According to American and foreign officials interviewed about the contents of the laptop, the information found there included descriptions of the so-called Green Salt Project. That project, which involved uranium processing, high explosives and a missile warhead design, demonstrated what the agency suspected were links between IranÂ’s military and its ostensibly peaceful nuclear program. If that evidence were substantiated, it would undercut IranÂ’s claims that its program is aimed solely at producing electrical power.
The documents on the laptop described two programs, termed L-101 and L-102 by the Iranians, describing designs and computer simulations that appeared to be related to weapons work.
Iran, while dismissing as baseless the assertions that such a program existed, agreed to examine documents that the United States said pertained to Green Salt. But Iran has said it wants to take possession of the documents, something the United States has refused to allow.
Iran could cry foul unless the Americans turn over the documents, which Dr. ElBaradei said it has a right to have. “We have to give them access to the documents — I think it’s fair,” he said in an interview last August. “I’m a lawyer, and due process will tell me that I cannot accuse a person without providing him or her with the evidence.” He added, “I can’t accuse a country saying, ‘You will get your charges but I am not going to tell you what the charges are.’ ”
| He's a lawyer and a nuclear weapons expert! |
The presentation included selections from more than a thousand pages of Iranian computer simulations and accounts of experiments that, according to the American officials, showed a longstanding effort to design what appeared to be a nuclear warhead or similar “re-entry vehicle.”
In recent months, France, Britain and Germany have been strongly urging the United States to turn over to Iran any relevant intelligence information, including documents found on the laptop, that could shed light on IranÂ’s nuclear history, European officials said. The Europeans did not want Iran to avoid cooperating fully in revealing its past by trying to blame the United States.
While Dr. ElBaradei is trying to bring the outstanding past issues to closure before he issues his report on the status of the Iranian program, the officials said that they were doubtful that Iran could clear up the remaining questions in such a short time.
On Thursday, Dr. ElBaradei met in Paris with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other senior French officials, who urged him to be firm with Iran, stressing that the credibility of his agency was at stake.
| Oh, I don't think so, I think we settled his 'credibility' a while back ... |