New information on Iran's campaign to build nuclear weapons is available, officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency said last week.
They stressed the fresh intelligence is based on contributions from many countries, not just U.S. and Israeli sources.
If the IAEA indeed has good information about Iran from experts outside of this country and Israel, it should release it as soon as possible.
It has been clear to objective observers for some time that Iran is working on nuclear weapons. Yet U.S. and European officials have seemed reluctant to do much about it. Economic sanctions against Tehran have accomplished little.
The United States faces a handicap in condemning Iran for its nuclear weapons program. Too many people - including a substantial number of Americans - became skeptical after U.S. and other coalition forces invaded Iraq several years ago.
It will be remembered Saddam Hussein was deposed from power in Iraq because of American intelligence indicating he possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Those claims were vastly exaggerated, it later was discovered. That fiasco tainted U.S. intelligence about WMD programs in other countries, including Iran.
Simply because of the trust gap involving U.S. intelligence, it is critical for the IAEA to do what it seems officials may have in mind: taking a strong, authoritative, independent stance regarding Iran's nuclear weapons campaign.
