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Source: https://www.jns.org/has-the-us-intelligence-community-misread-irans-nuclear-program/
Has the U.S. Intelligence Community Misread Iran's Nuclear Program?
(JNS) Ariel Ben Solomon - U.S. President Donald Trump clashed with the intelligence community last week over the threat posed by Iran, a position that has some U.S. and Israeli experts nodding in agreement. Former weapons inspector David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said the U.S. intelligence community told us that "Iran does not have a structured nuclear-weapons program - something we all know." However, he said, the intelligence community "punted on the more important questions of whether Iran is preserving capabilities to make nuclear weapons, e.g., the Atomic Archive, or working on certain activities to overcome bottlenecks in their nuclear-weapons program." How "does the intelligence community...know that certain activities do not continue today, particularly given the IAEA has not visited many of the sites mentioned in the archives?" he asked. How does the intelligence community "view Iran's ongoing development of missiles that would be capable of delivering nuclear weapons? Several pieces of the assessment puzzle just weren't there." Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said Iran "is indeed working on advanced centrifuge R&D under the terms of the deal. Moreover, it is testing missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. Both activities are key to having a nuclear-weapons capability, and Iran can work on them without violating the JCPOA." Compliance with the JCPOA is not the barometer for assessing Iranian intentions or ambitions, she added. The JCPOA enables Iran to keep its nuclear infrastructure, which is in line with its continued nuclear ambitions.