New intelligence surfaces about Iran nuclear weapons

U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies are looking into new information about computer modeling by Iranian scientists that could be used for research and development of nuclear weapons, two U.S. officials plus one current and one former Israeli official told Axios.

The purpose of the modeling is unclear. Some U.S. and Israeli officials said the intelligence is a worrying signal about Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions, but other officials on both sides said it as a "blip" that doesn't represent a shift in Iran's policy and strategy towards weaponization. Iran has repeatedly denied wanting nuclear weapons.

One U.S. and one Israeli official said the new intelligence raised "suspicion" and "concern" about Iran's nuclear research and development activities.

One Israeli official said that after the intelligence failure around the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Israeli intelligence community is considering even more seriously any small piece of information about potential Iranian steps toward nuclear weapons.

The U.S. intelligence community made an assessment in 2007 that Iran hasn't had an active military nuclear program since 2003. That assessment hasn't changed, U.S. officials told Axios.One U.S. and one Israeli official said both countries' intelligence agencies do not have any indication that Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei ordered the military nuclear program to be resumed.