Global Insights: Iran's Slow but Steady Nuclear March

According to media reports, the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessment of Iran's nuclear program due out this week will find that Iran has made considerable progress in developing a nuclear weapons capacity despite international sanctions, cyber attacks and other impediments. As a result, Iran will soon be in the position to develop nuclear weapons should its leaders decide to pursue them.

The IAEA assessment will reportedly provide three new revelations about Iran's program. First, it will confirm that Iran has resumed its research and development of a nuclear warhead. That contrasts with the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran had ceased such work in 2003, while continuing to make progress on the other two elements of any nuclear program: acquiring more weapons-usable material, such as enriched uranium, and improving the capabilities of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal. ...