Iran better positioned to launch nukes program but not seeking it: WSJ
Iran is now in a better position to produce a nuclear device “if it chooses to do so,” according to a new assessment by US intelligence agencies that Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The US intelligence community, however, believes that Iran isn’t working to make a nuclear bomb, a US official said.
Iran has said time and again that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.
“Iran doesn’t have an active military nuclear program,” said a spokeswoman for the office of the director of US National Intelligence. The US intelligence report claimed Tehran was seeking to exploit “international worry” over its nuclear program “for negotiation leverage.”
After the US withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018, which lifted most international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for tight but temporary restrictions on its nuclear work, Iran expanded its uranium enrichment in retaliation
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July that the policy of the US is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and that the administration would prefer to stop that from happening through diplomacy.