CFR: White House Disputes Report on Iran Nuclear Program

Top of the Agenda: White House Disputes Report on Iran Nuclear Program

U.S. officials disputed Israeli Defense Chief Ehud Barak's claim that the U.S. has a new National Intelligence Estimate (CBS)

indicating Iran has made considerable strides toward nuclear weaponization, a view similar to that of Israel. Barak later said he was not sure whether the report was "under the title NIE or under another title." U.S. officials said the United States still believes Iran is not on the verge of a nuclear weapon (Reuters), and that Tehran has not made a decision to pursue one.

Analysis

"If the United States and its allies broadened their perspective and paid attention not merely to Iran's nuclear program but also to the Islamic Republic's larger assault on the West, they would see that a third and better option exists: supporting a democratic revolution in Iran

," writes Michael Ledeen in Foreign Affairs.

"If there is one thing that Israelis and Americans have learnt over the years, it is that Iran's leaders are eminently rational

in the pursuit of their interests, and in the protection of their authority. A nuclear attack on Israel would be matched by more severe Israeli, and probably American, nuclear retaliation against Iran," writes Michael Young in The National.