Don’t Bomb Iran

A report to Congress’ Foreign Relations committee says allied intelligence (presumably Israeli) have obtained blueprints for a nuclear warhead from two sources in Iran, which match each other “down to the last millimeter”. If true, this is validation of the claims in the “smoking laptop affair”, but no evidence is presented. The report also says “Many have doubts about whether Iran has a design for a workable nuclear warhead”.

Extract from Iran: Where We Are Today published May 4 2009   pg 5

Iran denies any military role in its nuclear efforts and so far no one has uncovered proof to the contrary. There is, however, a strong circumstantial case for military in-volvement, which may or may not have stopped when the weaponization work ended in late 2003. Potentially damning evidence surfaced in 2004 when U.S. intelligence obtained a laptop computer that it said had come from an Iranian engineer. The computer contained thousands of pages of data on tests of high explosives and designs for a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It also contained videos of what were described as secret workshops around Iran where the weapons work was supposedly carried out.

Some of those documents as well as intelligence material from other countries were shared with the IAEA, which refers to them in its official reports as the ‘‘alleged studies.’’ When the agency provided copies of some documents to Iran, the Iranians denounced them as fakes. Senior UN officials and foreign intelligence officials who have seen many of the documents told the committee staff that it is impossible to rule out an elaborate intelligence ruse.

But they said the documents come from more than just the laptop and appear to be authentic, right down to the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the workshops in Iran.

A senior allied intelligence official said the documents contained blueprints for a nuclear warhead that was a perfect match—‘‘down to the last millimeter’’—with designs his agency had obtained from other sources inside Iran (my emphasis). Another document tracked the flight path for a missile, with notations that its warhead would detonate 600 meters above the ground, according to foreign intelligence officials and UN officials. That height would render a conventional explosive ineffective, but would be the optimum elevation for a nuclear weapon intended to wipe out a city.

Tags: blueprints, Iran, nuclear weapon, smoking laptop