Iran experts at the UN nuclear monitoring agency believe Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and worked on developing a missile system that can carry an atomic warhead, according to a report.
The document drafted by the International Atomic Energy Agency is the clearest indication that those officials share Washington's views on Iran's weapon-making capabilities and missile technology, even if they have not made them public.
The document, titled "Possible Military Dimension of Iran's Nuclear Program," appeared to be the so-called IAEA "secret annex" on Iran's alleged nuclear arms programme that the US, France, Israel and other IAEA members say is being withheld by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, claims the nuclear watchdog denies.
It is a record of IAEA findings since the agency began probing Iran's nuclear programme in 2007 and has been continuously updated.
The information in the document that is either new, more detailed or represents a more forthright conclusion than found in published IAEA reports includes:
The IAEA's assessment that Iran worked on developing a chamber inside a ballistic missile capable of housing a warhead payload "that is quite likely to be nuclear".
That Iran is engaged in "probable testing" of explosives commonly used to detonate a nuclear warhead, a method known as a "full-scale hemispherical explosively driven shock system."
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