Iran could revive atom bomb bid due curbs on IAEA: U.S.

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday that what U.S. intelligence found to be a secret Iranian nuclear arms program halted in 2003 could easily be revived because of later curbs on U.N. inspections in the country.

The U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency challenged suggestions that the U.S. intelligence finding disclosed on December 3 reduced the urgency of reining in Iran via IAEA investigations, U.N. sanctions and steely diplomacy.

Tehran says it has never sought nuclear energy for anything but electricity. But it has a history of dodging IAEA scrutiny and is trying to stockpile enriched uranium in defiance of U.N. resolutions demanding a halt.

U.S. envoy Gregory Schulte said Washington's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) contained "new evidence" of a concerted, clandestine atom bomb project in Iran and there was no reason to relax even if it was shelved four years ago.

"Iran's leaders could choose to restart that program ... and there is no certainty the IAEA would know, particularly with the (IAEA) director-general twice warning us that IAEA knowledge of Iran's current activities is diminishing. That is a matter of grave concern," he told reporters invited to a briefing.

Schulte was referring to restrictions on IAEA inspections beyond a few declared nuclear sites, imposed by Iran in early 2006 in retaliation for U.N. Security Council steps to slap the first of two sets of sanctions on Tehran.

CRITICAL ENRICHMENT CAPABILITY

"The technology that Iran is mastering today for enrichment, a capability not necessary for Iran to have a peaceful nuclear program, could be readily applied to building a bomb, should Iran's leaders so decide," he said.