NIE Report and Iran's Nuclear Challenge

NIE Report and Iran’s Nuclear Challenge
Ali Asghar Kazemi
January 2008
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Amid heated debate about US President claim that Iran’s nuclear ambitions could start World War III, the official NIE report on the matter came as a shock to all. Whatever the true intention behind the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report on Iran’s nuclear project, it had the following immediate consequences:
It prompted the Islamic regime to construe the report as a proof of innocence and peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities;
It gave Iranian hardliners some self-confidence and security assurance about their defying stance;
It encouraged “revolutionary coast guard” to challenge US warships’ “transit passage” through the Strait of Hormoz during recent Bush’s trip to the region;
It instilled Russians to deliver the first shipment of enriched uranium for Iran’s nuclear power plant at Bushehr as a deterrent safeguard against any eventual preemptive strike;
It induced Russia and China to stiffen their position on the matter in the UN Security Council;
It relieved US President from a mounting psychological pressure exerted by Neo-Con folks in Washington to go for military option against Iran; and finally
It assured pacifists in America and elsewhere that the United States will not venture another war in the Middle East. .....Continued...