Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons

Washington Post:

The father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program has written an official account that details an Iranian attempt to buy atomic bombs from Pakistan at the end of the 1980s.

Bombmaker Abdul Qadeer Khan states in documents obtained by The Washington Post that in lieu of weapons, Pakistan gave Iran bomb-related drawings, parts for centrifuges to purify uranium and a secret worldwide list of suppliers. Iran's centrifuges, which are viewed as building blocks for a nuclear arsenal, are largely based on models and designs obtained from Pakistan.

Khan's narrative calls into question Iran's long-standing stance that it has not sought nuclear arms. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last month that "we won't do that because we don't believe in having them."

The account also conflicts with the Pakistani government's assertion that Khan proliferated nuclear know-how without government approval.

Pakistan has never disclosed Khan's written account. A summary of interrogations of Khan and four others in 2004, conducted by Pakistan's intelligence service and later provided to U.S. and allied intelligence officials, omitted mention of the attempt to buy a nuclear bomb. But Pakistan's former top military official in 2006 publicly hinted at it.

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Most observers now think Khan's work for Iran was directed by "senior elements of Pakistan's military, if not by its political leaders," said Leonard S. Spector, director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "Khan is clearly out to vindicate his reputation, but the issues remain murky enough that you can't be certain when he is telling the truth and when he is embellishing."

Khan's 11-page narrative, prepared in 2004 during his initial house arrest, states that "at no time did I seriously believe that they [Iranians] were capable of mastering the technology." But Western intelligence officials say his assistance was meaningful and trace its roots to a deal reached in 1987.

Pakistan has said little about that deal. Iran later told international inspectors that a Pakistani "network" in 1987 offered a host of centrifuge-related specifications and equipment, and turned over a document detailing how to shape enriched uranium for use in a bomb.

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There is more.

These two countries have both played a double game on the nuclear issue, but there should be little doubt about Iran's ambitions and Pakistan's earlier attempts to help them realize those ambitions. All this makes the Obama administrations weak response all the more dangerous for the US and its allies. While Israel is a target of Iran's ambitions, there should be no doubt that the US is the ultimate target.