WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Iran has made advances in enriching uranium and is keeping open the option of developing nuclear weapons, but it is unclear whether it has the political will to do so, the U.S. director of national intelligence said on Tuesday.
In written testimony to Congress, intelligence chief Dennis Blair said Iranian technical advancements backed up judgments in a 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, that "Iran is technically capable of producing enough HEU (highly enriched uranium) for a weapon in the next few years, if it chooses to do so."
"Iran's technical advancement, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthens our 2007 NIE assessment that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons, making the central issue its political will to do so," Blair said.
"We continue to assess Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons in part by developing various nuclear capabilities that bring it closer to being able to produce such weapons, should it choose to do so. We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons," he added.
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