There's a new article on the Ha'aretz Web site that appears to be a response to Obama's decision not to deploy anti-missile missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Obama's decision was justified on the ground that
the threat of long-range missiles from Iran is no longer believed to be as imminent.
The article that has just appeared on the Ha'aretz Web site, Secret IAEA document: Iran has ability to make atom bomb seems to have been meant as a response to this throwing of cold water on the idea of an Iranian threat.
Experts belonging to the United Nations nuclear watchdog organization [IAEA] are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system capable of carrying an atomic warhead, according to a secret report.
The Iranians can, of course, be on the way to developing a missile system capable of carrying an atomic warhead without its deployment being foreseeable for some time, and it need not be long-range. Further, a country can have the ability (knowledge and materials) to make nuclear bombs without its production being imminent. In fact, countries like Japan, Germany, and Brazil have long had this capability without having any intention of making the bombs. So, it's a pretty lame response.
And the news ticker at the top of the Ha'aretz home page now has Reuters reporting IAEA has denied the earlier report:
22:48 IAEA denies report it is sure Iran seeking atom bomb (Reuters)
For whatever reason, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak also yesterday said Iran is not an existential threat to Israel: Report: Barak says Iran is not existential threat to Israel.
UPDATE: That Reuters report is now up on line: IAEA denies report it is sure Iran seeking atom bomb:
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Thursday it had no proof that Iran has or once had a covert atomic bomb program, dismissing a news report that it had concluded Iran was on its way to producing nuclear weapons.
In a statement, the International Atomic Energy Agency reaffirmed IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's September 9 warning that allegations the agency was sitting on undeniable evidence of Iranian bomb work were "politically motivated and baseless."
"With respect to a recent media report, the IAEA reiterates that it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapons program in Iran," the statement said.
Of course, it can be true both that Iran has the capability to make nuclear weapons and that it has no nuclear weapons program. It's just that, if it has no such program, then that capability, if it exists, is not much of a threat.
Ha'aretz credited its report to: "The Associated Press and DPA". I wonder what the story is here.