Iran has know-how for atom bomb: report

IAEA to inspect new Qom site Oct. 25: ElBaradei
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DUBAI: Iran has “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atom bomb according to the tentative conclusions of a confidential report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the New York Times reported late Saturday.
The conclusions, according to unnamed European officials, came from intelligence agencies and its own investigations and go beyond the public positions taken by many governments, including the United States, that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapon program.
In 2007 the U.S. intelligence community determined that in 2003 Iran stopped its alleged efforts to design a nuclear warhead and last month the International Atomic Energy Agency said it “has no concrete proof” that Iran ever sought to make or perfect nuclear arms.
IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei, due in Iran on Saturday for talks, was quoted Saturday as saying in India that “a major question” about the evidence’s authenticity prevented the agency from “making any judgment at all” on that point.
A senior U.S. official said last week the U.S is revaluating its assessment, said the Times.
The latest report, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran’s Nuclear Program," came just days after Iran revealed a secret underground nuclear enrichment center under construction near the holy city of Qom.
It describes a complex program, started in 2002 by Iran’s Ministry of Defense, "aimed at the development of a nuclear payload to be delivered using the Shahab 3 missile system," which can strike the Middle East and parts of Europe, according to the paper.
But the IAEA report does not say how far work has progressed and is careful to caution in its introduction that the “conclusions are tentative and subject to further confirmation of the evidence,” according to the Times report.
Tehran has repeatedly denied it is developing nuclear weapons and insists its program is for peaceful purposes only. On Thursday Iran met with the six world powers in talks aimed at resolving the standoff over its nuclear program.
From conspiracy to cooperation
Meanwhile the IAEA's ElBaradei said on Sunday the agency will inspect Iran's new uranium enrichment site in Qom on Oct. 25.
ElBaradei said at a news conference with Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, that Iran's relations with the West were moving from "conspiracy" to "cooperation" and that the nuclear dispute could be solved through diplomacy.
"It is important for us to have comprehensive cooperation over the Qom site. We had dialogue, we had talks on clarification of the facility in Qom, which is a pilot enrichment plant," ElBaradei said, adding Iran should have informed the IAEA of Qom when it decided to build the site.
Salehi praised his talks with the U.N. agency chief as "very successful."