Last Monday, a report released by United States intelligence agencies concluded with "high confidence" that Iran stopped developing its nuclear weapons program in 2003. That's good news. Many worried that Iran was trying to build nuclear bombs.
Not everyone is reassured, however. In 2006, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced that his country had successfully enriched uranium. The Iranian president insisted that his country was developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. But many nations feared that Iran was secretly trying to build illegal, deadly nuclear weapons. Soon after Ahmadinejad's announcement, the United Nations imposed trade restrictions on Iran.
Will this new report change the world's opinion of Iran? Ahmadinejad called last week's report a "declaration of victory" for Iran's peaceful nuclear program. But intelligence experts cautioned that if Iran wanted to, it could build a nuclear weapon by 2010.
President George W. Bush said the report was a "warning signal" and called on Iran to "come clean" on all of its nuclear activities. The call was echoed by some U.S. allies. For now, Iran and its nuclear ambitions are still cause for deep concern.