GARY MILHOLLIN ON IRAN:

VIENNA (Reuters) – Arms experts say a U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Iran supports U.S. claims that Tehran has a secret atomic weapons programme by detailing a two-decade cover-up of research possibly linked to bomb making.

Despite Iran’s secretiveness and the array of activities possibly associated with weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded there was no evidence to date Iran had a weapons programme. Iran has always denied the charge.

“The report is a stunning revelation of how far a country can get in making The Bomb, while pretending to comply with international inspections,” said Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a U.S.-based non-profit think-tank. “This is a classic case of a bomb in the basement.”

“Iran has secretly enriched uranium, made plutonium, and hidden the evidence of it from the world,” he told Reuters. “There’s only one reason why anybody would do that — because they want to make the bomb.”

And what’s an appropriate response to that?