(Globe and Mail) | February 20, 2010
PAUL KORING
Agency says for the first time that Tehran may be building a nuclear warhead, raising the spectre of the imposition of new sanctions
Iran won’t come clean about its nuclear program, the UN’s atomic watchdog agency concludes in a new report that is certain to raise the stakes in a looming showdown over slapping new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Tehran’s lack of co-operation “raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile,” the International Atomic Energy Agency stated in a report released on Thursday, the first time the UN agency has said Iran may currently be working on making a nuclear warhead.
While admitting it has no hard evidence of a nuclear-weapons program, the IAEA says Tehran’s obstructionism, its refusal to answer questions and submit to inspections, and its stonewalling over hidden facilities for the last two years strongly suggest a clandestine weapons program.