WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran "vigorously" pursued programs
to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons during the latter
part of 2003 and was working to improve delivery systems, a CIA report
said on Tuesday.
Al
Qaeda was also engaged in rudimentary nuclear research, the CIA said,
and the network's stated willingness to launch an unconventional attack
was a major concern.
The unclassified semi-annual report to Congress on the acquisition of
technology relating to weapons of mass destruction from July 1 through
Dec. 31, 2003, was posted on the intelligence agency's Web site www.cia.gov.
"Iran's nuclear program received significant assistance in the
past from the proliferation network headed by Pakistani scientist A.Q.
Khan," the CIA report said.
Khan's network provided Iran with designs for Pakistan's older
centrifuges and for more advanced and efficient models, and components,
the report said.
Iran was trying to improve delivery systems and sought foreign
materials, training and equipment from Russia, China, North Korea , and
Europe, it said.
Last week Iran denied allegations by an exiled opposition group that
it obtained weapons-grade uranium and a nuclear bomb design from Khan,
the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb.
The United States believes Iran has been pursuing a secret nuclear
weapons program and has tried to convince the international community of
those concerns.
TERRORISM THREAT HIGH
"One of our highest concerns is al Qaeda's stated readiness to
attempt unconventional attacks against us," the report said. Osama
bin Laden and other leaders have said it was al Qaeda's religious duty
to acquire nuclear weapons, the CIA said.
Documents recovered in Afghanistan showed that al Qaeda "was
engaged in rudimentary nuclear research, although the extent of its
indigenous program is unclear," it said.
Pakistani nuclear engineer Bashir al-Din Mahmood, who reportedly met
with bin Laden, "may have provided some assistance to al Qaeda's
program," the report said.
"In addition, we are alert to the very real possibility that al
Qaeda or other terrorist groups might also try to launch conventional
attacks against the chemical or nuclear industrial infrastructure of the
United States to cause panic and economic disruption," the CIA
report said.
Several groups associated with al Qaeda planned attacks in Europe
with easily produced chemicals and toxins best suited to assassination
and small-scale scenarios, the CIA said.
Documents recovered in Afghanistan show al Qaeda has crude procedures
for making mustard agent, sarin, and VX nerve agent, and had conducted
research on biological agents. "We believe al Qaeda's BW
(biological warfare) program is primarily focused on anthrax for mass
casualty attacks," the report said.
The CIA report also said that information from 2003 detailed the
construction of a "terrorist cyanide-based chemical weapon"
that could be made with easily available items and required little
training to assemble and deploy.
"Such a device could produce a lethal concentration of poisonous
gases in an enclosed area," the CIA said.
The proliferation behavior of Chinese companies remained of
"great concern" but China had taken some positive steps, the
report said. In September 2003, China stopped a shipment of chemicals at
the China-North Korea border that could have been used in North Korea's
nuclear program, the report said.
North Korea had approached Western European entities for assistance
with its uranium enrichment program, and "a shipment of aluminum
tubing -- enough for 4,000 centrifuge tubes -- was halted by German
authorities," the report said.
