[Previous entry: "U.S. Prepares to Overhaul Arsenal of Nuclear Warheads"] [Next entry: "Iran issues stark military warning to United States"]

04/16/2006:

"U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is years away from building nukes"

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is several years away from being able to produce enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon, the nation's chief intelligence analyst said Thursday.

The nation's 16 intelligence agencies haven't changed their view of Iran's capability, said Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

That's despite Iran's announcement Tuesday that it had mastered the ability to enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear reactor, raising the possibility it could make a bomb.

"Our timeline hasn't changed," said Fingar, a top analyst for intelligence chief John Negroponte.
usatoday.com

Not that Negroponte is a peacenik: a couple weeks ago he came out with a host of new reasons to attack Iran.