Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

U.S. Intelligence: Iran Not Looking To Provoke

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said Thursday that Iran is not close to abandoning its nuclear program, but is also unlikely to intentionally provoke conflict.

According to Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, director of the agency, Iran has the “technical, scientific and industrial capability to eventually produce nuclear weapons.” The ballistic missiles it is currently developing could reach distances across the region and as far as Central Europe, said Burgess. He added that Iran could seek to engage terrorist proxies worldwide.

Burgess spoke at a Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee dedicated to the Worldwide Threats to the National Security of the United States.

Burgess said that despite growing international pressure on Iran, it is “not close” to agreeing to abandon its nuclear program, but added that “the agency assesses Iran as unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict.”

James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, said the U.S. was confident that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon, should its leaders – particularly the Supreme Leader – choose to do so. Iran’s technical advances, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthen that assessment, said Clapper.

“We believe the decision would be made by the Supreme Leader himself, and he would base that on a cost-benefit analysis,” said Clapper, adding, “I don’t think you want a nuclear weapon at any price.”

Clapper went on to say that sanctions were an effective way of inducing change in Iran’s policy and behavior.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.