A senior British diplomat has for the first time challenged the findings of a crucial American intelligence report which was considered to have removed the justification for military strikes against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, wrote ‘The Independent’ on Mar 6.
The conclusion of the National Intelligence Estimate, reflecting a consensus of 16 US intelligence agencies, that it had “high confidence” Iran had shelved a nuclear weapons programme in 2003 was too “emphatic”, the diplomat said.
“Many of us were surprised by how emphatic the writers of it were. That all the activities stopped in 2003 and had not resumed.
“I haven’t seen any intelligence that gives me even medium confidence that these programmes haven’t resumed. So we just don’t know,” the diplomat told journalists yesterday. The US intelligence report in December “had an impact on the international debate, but I don’t think it ever took the military option off the table”, he added, saying that the Iranians “continue to pursue a dangerous path, and we shouldn’t underestimate the risk of miscalculation”.