Tehran, Nov.3 (ANI): Iran is attempting to engineer and test nuclear weapons at a series of banned production sites in defiance of United Nations sanctions, according to a report to be released next week.
The STUXNET virus succeeded in crippling a number of Iranian centrifuges but analysts now think the effects have worn off and production of highly enriched uranium has accelerated again.
The research by the UN's watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, will add a substantial layer to seven years of investigations that is likely to inflame tensions in the Middle East, The Telegraph reports.
Yukiya Amano, the organization's director-general, is unlikely to draw a definitive conclusion that Iran is making nuclear weapons, but according to Western diplomats the facts will make any other conclusion implausible.
They believe the IAEA has substantiated evidence from intelligence reports, interviews with Iranian scientists and on-the-ground inspections that Iran is carrying out a nuclear weapons program in parallel to its civilian energy goals.
The agency has already uncovered evidence that Iran has been carrying out research into triggers for nuclear weapons.
Inspectors have also questioned Iranian scientists on simulation programmes that they believe are designed to design and test a potential weapon.
"This is the product of a vast amount of work by the IAEA which will show the level of evidence they've accumulated and make clear a number of supplementary indications they have uncovered," said a Western diplomat.
He added: "It makes an inescapable case that Iran has ambitions to militarise the uranium it has been enriching at its production facilities." (ANI)
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