JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Tuesday charged that Iran is still seeking nuclear weapons despite a new US report claiming the contrary, and vowed to continue its diplomatic campaign against its arch-foe.
"Iran is probably continuing its programme of fabricating a nuclear bomb," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told army radio, according to its website.
Even if the Islamic republic halted its programme in 2003, as said in a new US intelligence assessment, Israel believed it has since been relaunched.
Amid fears that with the new report Israel could find itself isolated in its drive to keep international pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to push ahead with such efforts.
"It is necessary to continue our efforts with our American friends to prevent Iran from obtaining non-conventional weapons," Olmert said on army radio.
A US National Intelligence Estmate (NEI) -- issued by all 16 US spy agencies -- on Monday claimed that Tehran mothballed its atomic weapons programme four years ago and said that US charges about Tehran's nuclear ambitions have been overblown for at least two years.
Iran appears "less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005" and "the programme probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure," it said.
It nevertheless warned that Iran was keeping its nuclear options open by bucking international demands to freeze uranium enrichment, and that it could achieve the technical ability to make a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015........
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