WASHINGTON (JTA) — British intelligence services say Iran has been secretly designing a nuclear warhead "since late 2004 or 2005," according to a news report.
The story published Wednesday in the Financial Times of Londan states that Great Britain believes that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the Islamic Republic to restart its weapons program about four years ago. U.S. intelligence has said it believes that Iran stopped work on building a nuclear weapon in 2003 and did not resume until two years ago.
The revelations come as the United States, Britain and the other P5+1 powers are scheduled for talks Thursday with Iran over its nuclear weapons program and other issues, and just days after the revelation that Iran is building a second secret nuclear enrichment facility.
Outgoing International Atomic Energy Agency director general Mohamed ElBaradei rejected the report, saying he had seen "no credible evidence" that Iran was building a nuclear weapon.
