#2. Rethinking Iran's Nuclear Plans

Dec. 3: The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concludes that Iran has no active nuclear-weapons program. Although the report, representing the consensus of the 16 branches of the U.S. intelligence community warns that Tehran's civilian nuclear program will eventually give it the means to build a nuclear weapon, the news takes the wind out of Washington's efforts to press for tougher sanctions, by diminishing the urgency it had attached to the danger of Iran's nuclear development. It also renders more remote the prospect of military action against Iran's nuclear facilities, as advocated by some U.S. hawks and Israeli leaders, should Tehran continue to defy U.N. calls to cease uranium enrichment.