Iran worries US officials beyond its nuclear plans

New intelligence czar Michael McConnell checked off homeland-security threats in a Senate briefing Tuesday.

By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the February 28, 2007 edition

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WASHINGTON - The consensus view of US intelligence agencies is that Iran is a power on the rise in the Middle East, eager to expand its military might and committed to the development of nuclear weapons.

If it forges ahead with its current program Tehran could produce an atomic bomb by the early or middle years of the next decade, said the new Director of National Intelligence, retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday on future threats to the United States.

"Iran is growing in its ability to project military power with the goal of dominating the Gulf region," said Admiral McConnell.

This warning comes at a time when the US has charged that Iranian forces are sending deadly weapons to Shiite militias inside Iraq. In addition, US officials have cited the potential threat of long-range Iranian missiles as a reason why Europe might need US-made missile defenses.

Critics of the White House say that the US may be misusing intelligence information to create a pretext for conflict with Iran, in a manner similar to the run-up to the Iraq war.

Intelligence officials appearing before the Senate Armed Services panel said that they were calling Iranian intentions as they saw them.

McConnell said that as part of the learning process for his new job he recently reviewed intelligence about the position of Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was disappointed with what he found.

"He remains popular," McConnell said. "He has staffed his cabinet and [positions] around him with hard-liners. The economy is strong because of oil revenues."

Iran's ballistic missiles currently can reach only as far as Israel, said Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Iranian scientists might perfect longer range models by 2015, he said.

"We are seeing them develop some space launch capability," said Mr. Maples.

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