US thinks Tehran has not made decision to build nuclear bomb

At the centre of the debate is the murky question of the ultimate ambitions of the leaders in Tehran. There is no dispute among American,Israeli and European intelligence officials that Iran has been enriching nuclear fuel and developing some necessary infrastructure to become a nuclear power. But the CIA and other agencies believe that Iran has yet to decide whether to resume a parallel program to design a nuclear warhead a program they believe was essentially halted in 2003 and which would be necessary for Iran to build a nuclear bomb. Iranian officials maintain that their nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

On January 31,James R Clapper Jr,director of national intelligence,stated explicitly that US officials believe that Iran is preserving its options for a nuclear weapon,but said there was no evidence that it had made a decision on making a concerted push to build a weapon. David H Petraeus,the CIA director,concurred with that view. Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta and Gen Martin E Dempsey,the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,have made similar statements.

They are certainly moving on that path,but we dont believe they have actually made the decision to go ahead with a nuclear weapon, Clapper said.