The head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has said that Iran has no decision to resume what he claimed to be its military nuclear program.
In an interview with CBS, William Burns answered the question, “Do the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have a decision to build nuclear weapons?”
He said that officials in Iran have so far not made the decision to resume what he called the weaponization program that they suspended, or stopped, at the end of 2003.
At the same time, by confirming the claim of 84% uranium enrichment in Iran, he claimed that Iran has advanced its enrichment program and, if they decide, they can reach 90% enrichment in just a few weeks. He also claimed that Iran has advanced missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons. While admitting that they have no evidence proving that Iran wants to resume the military nuclear program, he claimed that Iran is developing other aspects of its nuclear program.
The CIA chief’s confession has now put a question mark in front of the measures made by the U.S. and Europe against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. While they admit that Tehran is not pursuing a military nuclear program based on their research and expertise, they have imposed the most severe sanctions against Iran.
Despite Iran’s decision to enter negotiations with world powers and sign a nuclear deal in 2015 as a goodwill gesture, the U.S. withdrew from the agreement during the presidency of Donald Trump in 2018 and adopted the policy of “maximum pressure” towards the Iranian people.
The excuse for all these pressures has been Iran’s attempt to achieve a military nuclear program. Now, however, the head of the CIA has admitted that Iran does not have such a program on its agenda.
Despite such an assessment of Iran’s nuclear program, the current U.S. administration continues to follow the path of Trump's administration and hinders efforts to revive the nuclear agreement.
It seems that the Western front led by the U.S. is fundamentally opposed to Iran’s nuclear capabilities in any form. However, having nuclear energy is the right of all countries, especially those who have signed the NPT treaty.
In the interview, William Burns has echoed Bloomberg’s claims of enrichment of uranium to 84% purity in Iran. Tehran has rejected the claim and recently allowed inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate its facilities.
The CIA chief’s reference to the progress of uranium enrichment in Iran’s facilities is not a secret matter. Following the withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal and the failure of the Europeans to fulfill their commitments under the agreement, Tehran gradually reduced the implementation of its commitments and increased the level of uranium enrichment to 60% in several stages.
There are reports that Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, plans to travel to Tehran in the coming days to discuss the safeguards issues. It is expected that, after this trip and the settlement of the safeguards issues, the stalled talks to revive the nuclear deal will be resumed. The CIA chief’s admission that Tehran has no decision for a military nuclear program can affect the stances of the European troika and Washington and help them abandon their excessive demands and their duplicate claims to reach a  satisfactory deal on Iran’s nuclear program.