VIENNA — The U.N. nuclear agency responsible for probing whether Iran has worked on a nuclear bomb depends on the United States and its allies for most of its intelligence, complicating efforts to produce findings that can be widely accepted by the international community.
Much of the world looks at U.S. intelligence on weapons development with a suspicious eye, given American claims a decade ago that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. used those claims to justify a war; Iraq, it turned out, had no such weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency insists that it is objective in evaluating Iran’s nuclear program and that its information comes from a range of sources and is carefully vetted. But about 80 percent of the intelligence comes from the United States and its allies, The Associated Press has been told.
Two IAEA officials, who gave the 80 percent figure, told The AP that the agency has been forced to rely more and more on information from Iran’s critics — the U.S., Israel, Britain, France and Germany — because Iran refuses to cooperate with international inspectors.
Their evaluation appeared to be the first in percentage terms. The officials demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to release classified information.
Intelligence services of other nations, such as Pakistan, China or Russia, also collect information on Iran. But they are compromised by the fact that their governments or individuals provided the equipment or knowledge in the past that allowed Iran to develop its nuclear program.
Critics invoke the Iraq fiasco to warn that the information on Iran provided by Tehran’s adversaries might be at best inaccurate and at worst spin, meant to pave the way for possible attack.
Gary Samore, the White House’s top adviser on weapons of mass destruction until January, says only a “couple of outliers, like Venezuela and Cuba” doubt that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability.
Nevertheless, support for Iran remains strong, particularly among the 120 countries that call themselves nonaligned.
