UK spy chief’s claims are surprising: analysts

Admitting that Britain has been conducting covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program, the head of Britain’s secret intelligence agency MI6, John Sawers, claimed that Iran could have obtained nuclear weapons in 2008 hadn’t British spies interfered, British media reported last week.

Furthermore, Sawers claimed that Iran is only 2 years away from becoming “a nuclear weapons state” warning that the Israeli regime may decide to act with military aggression if it thought Iran would be a nuclear power by 2014.

The head of Britain’s MI6 is now being criticized by political analysts for his empty claims as they describe the statement as just a surprising assumption.

Dina Esfandiary, an analyst of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “Most Western intelligence agencies believe that Iran has not made the decision to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Furthermore, Patricia Lewis, an international security expert at London's Chatham House think-tank, said she was surprised by Sawers’ claims.

Britain and other Western countries have constantly accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of aiming to build nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the claim as it repeatedly proved and explained that its nuclear program is to obtain peaceful energy to produce electricity and help battle cancer.

The Islamic Republic stands for its rights to enhance nuclear energy and has given countless warnings to Israel that any military strike against Iran would result in their quick defeat.