The Secret Annex That Isn't (Update: Reuters Gets IAEA Denial Of AP Report)

By Steve Hynd

I hate linking the AP but on this one I've no choice: the press agency says it has come into possession of an IAEA report it believes is the so-called "secret annex" that hawks have accused the atom watchdog of withholding on Iran's nuclear weapons program. It's such an amazing coincidence that it breaks the story the same day the U.S. nixes the daft missile shield idea, to the consternation of neocons and likudniks. Who leaked? *cough Mossad! *cough*.

The entire meat of the AP release is contained in two sentences.

The document says Iran has "sufficient information" to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to "overcome problems" on developing a delivery system.

If that's the most shocking information in the report, then it's a damp squib. This has all been known for a long time and discussed in open-source media. Of course Iran has enough information to build a bomb. But can it make a bomb small enough to fit in a missile nosecone? And how long will it take to overcome design problems in building the missile to carry that hypothetical bomb?

And, the big question, will Iran ever decide to do all that? The IAEA and US intelligence say there's no sign it has so far and the IAEA are adamant that they will notice if Iran starts redirecting uranium to bomb production. Its the same old same old: hype in search of actual facts.

Update: Reuters actually went and asked the IAEA (which the AP apparently didn't in its haste to publish).

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear agency has no proof that Iran has or once had a covert atomic bomb program, it said on Thursday, dismissing a report that it had concluded Iran was on its way to producing nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency reaffirmed IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's September 9 comment that allegations the agency was sitting on evidence of Iranian bomb work were "politically motivated and baseless."

"With respect to a recent media report, the IAEA reiterates that it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapons program in Iran," an IAEA statement said.

That should be the end of that scary story, except on rightwing warhype sites. Unfortunately, I know I'll be digging out and citing this post for years to come in response to U.S. media and rightwing hype.

Comments

[sfHeath]

Did you read any of the comments on the AP story? every single one just takes the headline and runs with it, and every one gets the message they are supposed to get since this "leak" happened the same day, but after, the WH decided to shut down the Poland missile shield, as you say.

Not a single comment about how if Iran actually progresses to building a bomb, the IAEA will have years of notice; not a single comment about easing tensions with Russia and the eastern bloc; just more obama-is-a-surrendering-traitor comments with a healthy dose of explicit racism thrown in.

How depressing.

[Russ Wellen]

Thanks for bringing that up to date for us, Steve. Also, the Arms Control Association recently came out with a state-of-the-art report on Iran and nukes: Is There Time to Prevent an Iranian Nuclear Weapon? It has the power to stop arguments dead in their tracks. In an ideal world, that is, where hawks can be dealt with rationally.