Iran Smoking Gun?? IAEA Finds Plans for Nuclear Weapons

Looking for the smoking gun?? Iran maintains it was given the papers without asking for them during its black market purchases of nuclear equipment decades ago . . . This just does not pass the “ho ho” test.  An the NY Times thinks this is simply a “gesture”.

Iran Hands Over Nuclear Blueprints Ahead of IAEA Report.   The AP (11/14, Jahn) reports, “Iran has met a key demand of the UN nuclear agency, handing over long-sought blueprints showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads, diplomats said Tuesday.” The decision was hailed by Western diplomats as a “concession designed to head off the threat of new UN sanctions.” The move comes as the IAEA finalizes its report to its board of governors next week. The AP reports that “While [IAEA chief Mohammed] ElBaradei is expected to say that Iran has improved its cooperation with his agency’s probe, the findings are unlikely to deter the United States, France and Britain from pushing for a third set of UN sanctions.”
      The New York Times (11/14, Sciolino, 1.18M) report on the blueprints called the handover a “gesture” saying, “Possession of the document is not expected to add much to the agency’s understanding of Iran’s nuclear history” and that “despite the latest gesture, Iran has failed to comply with a number of other demands by the agency under the timetable.”