Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead, two top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday, disputing a claim by an Israeli official.
U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said Tuesday that Iran has only low-enriched uranium — which would need to be refined into highly enriched uranium before it can fuel a warhead. Neither officials said there were indications that refining has occurred.
Their comments disputed a claim made last weekend by Israel''s top intelligence military official, who said Iran has crossed a technical threshold and is now capable of producing atomic weapons.
The claim made by Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin runs counter to estimates by U.S. intelligence that the earliest Iran could produce a weapon is 2010, with some analysts saying it is more likely that it is 2015.
Maples said the United States and Israel are interpreting the same facts, but arriving at different conclusions.
"The Israelis are far more concerned about it," Maples told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The status of Iran''s nuclear program has been the subject of conflicting public statements by top military and intelligence officials recently in the wake of U.N. revelations that Iran has more low-enriched uranium than previously thought.
A citizen of Tajikistan accused of justifying a Crocus City Hall terror attack
All relatives of Faridoun Shamsiddin in Tajikistan taken away and his sister deported from Russia
Uzbekistan puts mosaic panels on the list of cultural heritage sites
Foreign companies' losses from exiting Russia market reportedly exceed 107 billion US dollars
Russia to set up a state-owned operator for the organized recruitment of labor migrants
Tajikistan has to use alternative energy sources more actively in support of hydropower
Central Asian labor migrants working in Russia face fury and raids
The death toll in the Krasnogorsk concert hall attack rises to 143
How Japan supports Tajikistan's health sector
The United States expected to issue more special immigration visas for former Afghan allies
All news
Авторизуйтесь, пожалуйста