VIENNA, Austria, Sept. 16, 2008

IAEA: Iran To Upgrade Missile For Nuke Use

U.N. Agency Presents Report Allegedly Showing Iran's Plans To Redesign Weapons

  •  (AP / CBS)

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(CBS/ AP)  The U.N. nuclear agency has presented intelligence allegedly showing plans to redesign an Iranian missile to accommodate a nuclear payload.

The International Atomic Energy Agency shared the intelligence with 35 nations on Tuesday, but the Iranian representative to the organization says the information was fabricated.

Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, said the evidence shows Iran has a weapons program.

The two spoke separately to reporters after the presentation by the IAEA, one day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog issued a report saying that Iran has stonewalled its attempts to probe allegations that it drew up plans and conducted experiments for a nuclear arms program.

Meanwhile, France said Tuesday it would push for more sanctions against Iran.

"We have no other choice than to work in the days and weeks to come toward a new Security Council sanctions resolution," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.

He called the IAEA findings "very worrisome."

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe also spoke Monday of "the possibility of new sanctions" if Iran continues to defy the U.N.

However, Russia and China, who like the U.S. and France have veto power over U.N. Security Council resolutions, would likely resist a fourth round of sanctions against Iran. Britain, the fifth veto-wielding member of the Security Council, is aligned with the U.S. and France.

The Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear defiance.

The IAEA's report said Iran has now amassed a third of the amount of enriched uranium it could reprocess into the material for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon should it choose to do so. But U.N officials familiar with the report emphasized that Iran - whose known nuclear programs are under IAEA supervision - has shown no indication it wanted to go that route.

The U.S. and its allies allege that Iran wants to develop its uranium enrichment program to make nuclear weapons. But oil-rich Iran insists it only wants to make nuclear energy, and IAEA oversight and inspections of its known enrichment program has not found any evidence that contradicts that.

China said Tuesday that imposing further sanctions on Iran will not resolve the nuclear impasse.

"I don't think sanctions are the way out," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

But Jiang also said China hoped Iran would keep cooperating with the IAEA.

"The solution of the Iranian nuclear issue is negotiation and dialogue," she told a regular news briefing. "We hope the relevant parties will step up diplomatic efforts and settle the issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiations."

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 37 Comments
by iran-power September 18, 2008 1:42 AM EDT
before bombing IRAN you have to fix your country economy and one more thing we will f*** the israel s as*
Reply to this comment
by impeach__w September 17, 2008 6:39 PM EDT
Yep, now there is only one solution for Iran- Bombing.
Isreal will do it with or without our help.
Reply to this comment
by tapsettle September 17, 2008 10:39 AM EDT
Posted by lochlan

Most of america now recognises those points as facts. The big ''WHY'' to me is, why hasn''t america done anything about it? That is also the big SHAME.
Reply to this comment
by lochlan-2009 September 17, 2008 10:32 AM EDT
THIS POST I MADE YESTERDAY WAS DELETED FROM THE LIST!!!!!

WHY?

"but the Iranian representative to the organization says the information was fabricated."

"In late 2001, Italian Intelligence received documents that show Saddam Hussein''s government was attempting to purchase yellow cake uranium from the country of Niger. These documents were handed over to the CIA and to Great Britain. By early 2002 both CIA and the State Department discovered the documents were forgeries.

Former Iraq Ambassador Joe Wilson was sent by senior officials in the US Government to look into the documents claims. Joe Wilson found no evidence that Saddam had attempted to purchase yellow cake uranium. After informing the Bush Administration of the fact that the documents were forgeries and Joe Wilson found no evidence of any sale of yellow cake uranium, the George Bush said in his state of the union address "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa".

Joe Wilson wrote an op-ed in the NY Times entitled "What I didn''t find in Niger" refuting the Presidents statements. Shortly there after his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, had her covert identity of a CIA officer blown in a column by Robert Novak."-http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_George_Bush_lie_about_the_WMDs_in_Iraq
Reply to this comment
by tapsettle September 17, 2008 10:12 AM EDT
AMERICA BY THEIR OWN CHOICE WILL DESTROY THEIR LAND.
THEY SHOULD LET INTERNATIONAL INSPECTORS IN AND NEGOTIATE PEACE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD.THEY HAVE LITTLE TIME LEFT BEFORE THEY ARE GLASSED OVER BY THEIR CHOICE AND STUPID LEADERS.
Reply to this comment
by rona0899 September 17, 2008 9:26 AM EDT
IRAN BY THEIR OWN CHOICE WILL DESTROY THEIR LAND.
THEY SHOULD LET INTERNQATIONAL INSPECTORS IN AND NEGOTIATE PEACE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD.tHEY HAVE LITTLE TIME LEFT BEFORE THEY ARE GLASSED OVER BY THEIR CHOICE AND STUPID LEADERS.
Reply to this comment
by nincomp September 17, 2008 8:34 AM EDT
Syria and Iran are working together on a nuclear weapon and a missile delivery system. TO see the whole picture inspectors will have to look at both countries.
Posted by yongamerica at 03:04 AM : Sep 17, 2008
==================================================

Big deal, any project of this scale would need internal collaboration. What makes you think that Israel developed its weapons alone.
Reply to this comment
by mwg0735-2009 September 17, 2008 7:48 AM EDT
I am amused by comments that say Iran should get to have the bomb. You don''t have Christians blowing themselves up do you? Only the Muslums so would you ever really trust them??? If they didn''t have oil they would be sand people. Once they sell it all they will live in the dirt and caves again.
Reply to this comment
by powerman2001 September 17, 2008 7:30 AM EDT
US propaganda system...yep! It''s true. There is a huge propaganda system in the States. All of the smart and intelligent people left Iran for America after the revolution. The leaders there now are very uneducated and religious fundementalist. They are the last folks that need anything nuclear. I hope they get blasted back into the stone age. Maybe then the next generation will be ready to join a modern world and conduct themselves in a civilized manor. I hope that region of the world will one day respect human rights.
Reply to this comment
by babooph September 17, 2008 7:07 AM EDT
All thru childhood,I was assured that it was no problem that both sides had the bomb-that assured it would never be used-now I am told that other nations that dissagree must have only one of them with the bomb-very odd this US propaganda system .
Reply to this comment
by powerman2001 September 17, 2008 6:48 AM EDT
OKAY ISREAL! What are you guys waiting on? Go ahead and bomb them like you did Syria back in the day!
Reply to this comment
by powerman2001 September 17, 2008 6:48 AM EDT
OKAY ISREAL! What are you guys waiting on? Go ahead and bomb them like you did Syria back in the day!
Reply to this comment
by yongamerica September 17, 2008 6:04 AM EDT
Syria and Iran are working together on a nuclear weapon and a missile delivery system. TO see the whole picture inspectors will have to look at both countries.
Reply to this comment
by truthislife1 September 17, 2008 5:26 AM EDT
The terrorists have an uncanny way of hiding things. They hid 9/11 from being discovered until it was too late. They hid the 1st bombing of the trade center until it was too late. They are hiding this, confusing the details, making every possible way to find time to complete their mission.
Reply to this comment
by Thomas1016 September 17, 2008 5:17 AM EDT
Christian Science Monitor Quote: [The IAEA uses the term "alleged studies" to describe a collection of weaponization designs and documents %u2013 much of it coming from US intelligence agencies %u2013 that suggest Iran has tried to develop a nuclear warhead, modify a missile to carry a nuclear payload, and test high explosives underground and at distances consistent with a nuclear weapons test.]

After reading the article I conceed The report came from the U.S. However that does not mean it is untrue. Other countries as well have been supplying intelligence supporting the thinking that they do have somthing to hide. If they are hiding nothing then they are making the same mistake Saddam made in making the worlds intlligence agencies think they are. Also what makes you think they do not? because they say so?

Reply to this comment
by rudy654-2009 September 17, 2008 5:01 AM EDT
Posted by ugot2bfree at 11:01 PM

The article also contradicts itself. On the one hand it is claimed that there is this new evidence the UN is holding, and then on the other hand there is this paragraph:

But oil-rich Iran insists it only wants to make nuclear energy, and IAEA oversight and inspections of its known enrichment program has not found any evidence that contradicts that.
********888

If IAEA has not found any evidence contradicting Iranian claims, then what is this article supposed to be about????

Reply to this comment
by smurfcrusher September 17, 2008 3:18 AM EDT
I can''t believe the idiots that are whining about the journalism of the article.

Get a freakin'' life. The issue is that Iran is ramping up their nuclear capabilities on Bush''s watch, not that some reporter''s sentence isn''t equisitely crafted to your specifications.

As a famous person once said, "get out the fainting couch!"
Reply to this comment
by txpatriot4us September 17, 2008 2:55 AM EDT
Another source that remains hidden....makes it hard to
discern the facts when no country will stand behind the story and present valid facts. Oil Prices are going down...hurry Mr Bush you need another Terror Threat or War to prop up the Boys.
Reply to this comment
by ugot2bfree September 17, 2008 2:01 AM EDT
The journalism of this article is one of the worst I have seen in years. The article does not tell you where the UN got their information so you have some idea of its verasity. The article tells you nothing about how they intend to upgrade their missles. We are just suppose to take it at face value that it is true. What is the truth? This article gives no critical direction to fathom the truth.
I still find it hard to under stand how the West rags on Iran getting nuclear weapons and says nothing about Israel possessing the same. No one in the middle east should have nuclear weapons including Israel. The truth be told I am quite sure that Israel would use nuclear weapons on us if they felt themselves in a bind.
Reply to this comment
by ugot2bfree September 17, 2008 1:59 AM EDT
The journalism of this article is one of the worst I have seen in years. The article does not tell you where the UN got their information so have some idea of its verasity. The article tells you nothing about how they intend to upgrade their missles. We are just suppose to take it at face value that it true. What is the truth? This article gives no critical direction to fathom the truth.
I still find it hard to under stand how the West rags on Iran getting nuclear weapons and says nothing about Israel possessing the same. No one in the middle east should have nuclear weapons including Israel. The truth be told I am quite sure that Israel would use nuclear weapons on us if they felt themselves in a bind.
Reply to this comment
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