News Desk

The U.S. intelligence community on Monday threw some cold water on the much-heated debate over Iran's alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, it turns out, may not be actively working on getting nuclear weapons—or, at least, may be years away from reaching that point. The new National Intelligence Estimate may weaken the urgency of the Bush administration's case for tough diplomatic actions against Iran and undercut the claims by some hawks who have been pressing for military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. It's likely to be a PR bonanza for Iran's leaders, who have been hammered by the Bush administration over the nuclear issue.

The report, a definitive assessment by the nation's various intelligence agencies, reports with "moderate confidence" that Iran has not restarted efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The report says that the agencies have "high confidence" that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program under international pressure in 2003 and that "we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons."

That language conflicts with, for instance, President Bush, who in his State of the Union address last January referred to Iran's "pursuit of nuclear weapons." Both he and Vice President Cheney have pressed the case for international sanctions, and perhaps military strikes, to stop what they have said was Iran's drive to acquire nuclear weapons within a few years.

The full report is classified. A portion of the "key judgments" was made public.

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