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IAEA report says Tehran is manufacturing the atomic bomb
Leaks on the contents of the UN nuclear watchdogs report which will be published later this week. Iran claims it is an American plot, the documents are "manufactured". Israel: an attack against Iranian installations "increasingly likely". Invitations from Russia and France to seek solutions through diplomatic channels.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Yet to be formally published, but already leaked, the report by the UN nuclear agency (IAEA) says that Iran is secretly pursuing the construction of an atomic bomb. The news is bound to hike international tension, because it confirms the Israeli fears and therefore renders more credible the threat of an attack against Iranian installations, termed "most likely" by the same Israeli President Shimon Peres.
The IAEA report, which should be presented tomorrow or Wednesday, according to rumors, contains evidence that Tehran has the technology, resources and tools to build a nuclear weapon and that is carrying out covert actions to achieve this end.
This would refute the claims of the Iranian authorities, repeated today that the country's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, such as the production of electricity and healthcare instruments.
The question of an attack against Tehran's nuclear installations has been the subject of discussion in Israel for a week, not only in newspapers and television, but also within the government. And, according to Haaretz, the majority of 15 members of the Israeli security cabinet remain opposed to an attack, for now.
A hypothesis that is worrying. Today, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described any attack as "a very serious error, which could have unpredictable consequences," adding that diplomacy and not the launching of missiles are the way to solve the Iranian nuclear problem. Similar considerations made by the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who added that new sanctions could be imposed on Tehran. Statements that reinforce Beijing's no to a military intervention in Iran.
Tehran is reacting in a rather uncoordinated fashion. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi claimed it to be a smear campaign carried out by the United States. An important ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, quoted by the State Press TV said that the IAEA would lose credibility by publishing documents "fabricated" under pressure from the United States who want to create a negative atmosphere around Tehran. And that Iran will give an "overwhelming" response against any conspiracy. For his part, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an interview with the Egyptian Al-Akhbar said that the United States fear Iran's growing military strength "different from that of all other countries in the region."