As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, is preparing to release its report on Iran's nuclear program by Wednesday, Israeli officials are ramping up their diplomatic efforts to persuade the agency to state as clearly as possible that Tehran's nuclear program is military in nature. According to a recent New York Times report, the IAEA report is not expected to accuse Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb, but will say its nuclear program has possible military dimensions, wording that has raised concerns in Israel. The paper also recently reported that Iran continues to enrich uranium and has enough fuel for four nuclear bombs. Diplomatic sources over the weekend said the IAEA is expected to publish the harshest report yet on Iran's nuclear program, calling it military in nature, and Israeli officials in Vienna are applying diplomatic pressure to avoid any sort of watered-down wording about Tehran's nuclear aspirations. A senior diplomatic official said Monday that the semantics are important when it comes to determining the intensity of sanctions against Iran and to persuading other countries, including Russia and China, who have thus far been reluctant to sanction Iran, to support increasing punitive measures. Speculation among politicians and the media about possible military action against Iran continued on Monday, as President Shimon Peres warned that an attack was increasingly likely. Improvement of Government Services Minister Michael Eitan (Likud) visited former Mossad chief Meir Dagan on Monday and addressed the ongoing chatter. "A civil servant who received information ex officio should not disclose it, even if it does not directly harm state security," Eitan said. Since stepping down as Mossad head, Dagan has spoken out publicly against an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling it a "stupid idea." Dagan drew fierce criticism from Israeli ministers and politicians, who said a possible strike should not be the subject of public discussion. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported on Sunday that intelligence provided to the IAEA shows Iran has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon. According to the intelligence, Iran appears to have received crucial technical assistance from foreign experts, the newspaper reported, citing Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings by the IAEA. The Washington Post said the report's findings provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians on high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction. The Washington Post report says the intelligence also supports concerns that Iran continued to conduct weapons-related nuclear research after 2003, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Iran halted the research in response to international pressure. The Post quoted David Albright, a former IAEA official who reviewed the agency's findings, as saying that based on the intelligence the U.N agency has concluded that Iran "has sufficient information to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device" using highly enriched uranium as its fissile core. Albright described some of the highlights at a private conference of intelligence professionals last week, the newspaper said, adding that it had obtained slides from the presentation and a summary of Albright's notes. Western powers believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. Tehran denies wanting atom bombs, saying it is enriching uranium only to power reactors for electricity generation. The U.S., the EU and their allies have imposed economic sanctions on Tehran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program. The U.S. and Israel have repeatedly hinted at the possible use of force against Iranian nuclear sites, eliciting threats of fierce retaliation from the Islamic Republic. However, Russia on Monday cautioned against any sort of preemptive military action against Iran. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called such an attack "a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences." "Military intervention only leads to a multiple rise in casualties and human suffering," Lavrov said. "There can be no military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, just like there can be none for any other problem in the modern world." For his part, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the U.S. is fearful because Iran is now able to compete with Israel and the West, according to a report published in an Egyptian newspaper on Monday. Ahmadinejad accused Washington of inventing conspiracies to discredit Iran and sowing discord with its neighbor Saudi Arabia. His comments come weeks after an Iranian plot was foiled in Washington to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. "Yes, we have military capabilities that are different from any other country in the region," Egyptian daily al-Akhbar quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Iran is increasing in capability and advancement and therefore we are able to compete with Israel and the West and especially the United States." "The U.S. fears Iran's capability," he told the paper. "Iran will not permit [anyone from making] a move against it." Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Monday that the U.S., in a change of pace, is trying to stay on the sidelines in the run-up to the report's release. "The Obama administration, acutely aware of how what happened in Iraq undercut American credibility, is deliberately taking a back seat, eager to make the conclusions entirely the IAEAs, even as it continues to press for more international sanctions against Iran," the report says. That New York Times report also quotes a memo written jointly by Russia and China, which urges IAEA director Yukia Amano to keep a lid on whatever nuclear evidence the organization is set to reveal. "Russia and China are of the opinion that such kind of report will only drive Iran into a corner," the report quotes the note as saying. Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that U.S. President Barack Obama must not rule out military action against Iran. "The United States should certainly make clear that the president of the United States will consider military action, if necessary, because you never want to take that card off the table," she said on ABC's This Week. "I think there are other ways to confront Iran. You can confront Iran through even tougher sanctions. And I also think this is one of the downsides of having our forces out of Iraq, because we can confront the Iranians in Iraq," Rice said.
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