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IAEA: Iran may be trying for warhead

WASHINGTON - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said yesterday that it suspected that Iran may be trying to develop a nuclear warhead that could be placed atop a missile - its sharpest challenge to date of Iran's claims to be pursuing an exclusively peaceful nuclear program.

WASHINGTON - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said yesterday that it suspected that Iran may be trying to develop a nuclear warhead that could be placed atop a missile - its sharpest challenge to date of Iran's claims to be pursuing an exclusively peaceful nuclear program.

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency conflicts with a 2007 U.S. intelligence community assessment that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program in 2003. It is more in line with reported European and Israeli estimates that Iran, along with enriching uranium that could fuel a nuclear bomb, is experimenting with constructing a warhead.

The Vienna-based IAEA said it had collected "broadly consistent and credible information" from various sources about Iran's military-related nuclear activities.

"Altogether, this raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," it said.

Senior Obama administration officials called the report disturbing and said the U.S. assessment of Iran's nuclear ambitions was under review as part of a new National Intelligence Estimate. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 10-page IAEA report also confirms that Iran has begun enriching uranium to a purity of nearly 20 percent, closer to what is needed for nuclear bomb fuel.

A U.S. official, however, said Iran was producing about 100 grams a day of the 20 percent pure uranium - at a rate that would take it five to seven years to have enough for a bomb if it were enriched further. Weapons-grade uranium is roughly 90 percent pure.

Perhaps more worrisome, the IAEA said Iran has moved most of its current stock of low-enriched uranium to a pilot enrichment plant, indicating it is planning to convert it to the more pure form.

The steps Iran is suspected of taking toward a warhead have been cited in previous IAEA and media reports.

The agency's overall conclusions, however, suggest a hardening stance from the IAEA in dealing with Iran under the agency's new director-general, Japan's Yukiya Amano.

The report also seems likely to affect high-stakes diplomacy over new sanctions on Iran. China is resisting a U.S.-led push for new action by the U.N. Security Council.