Iran Undertook Nuclear-Bomb Studies Before 2009, IAEA Finds
- Agency ends 12-year probe of suspected weapons research
- Report marks next step toward implementing nuclear accord
Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Iranian scientists experimented with technologies that could be used to make a nuclear bomb without ever taking the final steps needed to turn their work into a weapon, international investigators said in a landmark report aimed at ending a 12-year inquiry.
International Atomic Energy Agency monitors assessed that Iran ceased work that could be used to develop a weapon by 2009, the Vienna-based agency found in a restricted obtained Wednesday by Bloomberg News. Pending its approval by the IAEA’s board of governors at a Dec. 15 meeting, the document will close the weapons inquiry and bring Iran one step closer to relief from international economic sanctions.