MI6 chief Sir John Sawers: 'We foiled Iranian nuclear weapons bid' (xpost)

[bananas]

Saw this in the Middle East group:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1253315

MI6 chief Sir John Sawers: 'We foiled Iranian nuclear weapons bid'

Sir John Sawers said that covert operations by British spies had prevented the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons as early as 2008.

However, the MI6 chief said it was now likely they would achieve their goal by 2014, making a military strike from the US and Israel increasingly likely.

Sir John gave a secret briefing to the Cabinet in March about Iran’s growing military threat but this is the first time his views on the issue have been made public.

It is extremely rare for the head of MI6 to disclose details of operations by the intelligence service.

<snip>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9396360/MI6-chief-Sir-John-Sawers-We-foiled-Iranian-nuclear-weapons-bid.html

[Nihil]

1. Er ... yeah ...

From the same person responsible for
> Britain's intelligence agencies were surprised by the Arab spring, and
> their failure to realise unrest would spread so rapidly may reveal a lack
> of understanding of the region

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/12/arab-spring-british-intelligence-report?newsfeed=true

Oops.

How do you spell "Trying to save face"?

I know ... "Blah blah blah nuclear weapons blah blah"!