Con Coglin contradicts NIE in the Daily Telegraph

Response to Con Coughlin of the Daily Telegraph

July 8, 2008

Dear Sir,

Con Coughlin (“Iran has resumed A-bomb project, says West”, July 7) does not give any hint to the source of his information, but his report actually contradicts the consensus of sixteen US intelligence agencies. He alleges that “clandestine attempt by Iran to develop P2 centrifuges was halted in 2004 after the existence of a civilian company set up by the Revolutionary Guard was exposed. UN nuclear inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium at the company when they inspected the premises”. But the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE 2007) rules with high confidence that Iran seized its nuclear weapons programme in 2003; Iran denies that it ever had such a programme.

More importantly, it is difficult to fathom how the “UN nuclear inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium” when in 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave Iran a clean bill of health. “The IAEA had reported that all declared fissile material in Iran had been accounted for, and none has been diverted:[i] This means that none had been enriched to weapons grade.

[i] IAEA http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2005/ebsp2005n009.html

Soraya Ulrich

University of Southern California- School of International Relations

Los Angeles, CA