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Israel, United States and Europe contributed intelligence to upcoming report, 'Post' learns; Jerusalem seeks sanctions against Iran's central bank; report may include Iranian computer modeling of nuclear weapon.

    Israeli intelligence agencies played a role in helping the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gather information that is expected to be released later this week and will accuse Iran of developing a nuclear weapon, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

In addition to Israel, intelligence agencies from the United States and Europe were also instrumental in helping the IAEA compile the report. Israel is expecting the United States to take the lead in pushing the United Nations and other Western countries to impose tougher, new sanctions on Iran following the publication of the incriminating IAEA report.

Israel is seeking sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran, which has yet to be directly affected by earlier rounds of sanctions. Sanctions imposed on the CBI would, for example, make it difficult for Iran to bankroll its nuclear program and buy components it requires to build new advanced centrifuges.

The UN nuclear watchdog report is expected to show recent activity in Iran that could help in developing nuclear bombs, including intelligence about computer modeling of such weapons, Western diplomats said on Tuesday.

"There are bits and pieces of information that go up through 2010," one Vienna-based diplomat said.

If confirmed in this week's keenly awaited document by the International Atomic Energy Agency, it could stimulate new debate about a controversial US intelligence assessment in 2007 that Iran had halted outright "weaponization" work in 2003.

It would heighten Western suspicions that Iran is resolved to pursue at least some of the research and development (R&D) applicable to atom bombs, even if Tehran has made no apparent decision to actually build them, as diplomats believe .

"There is still evidence there where I think the agency will be in a position to say that they have serious concerns coming up to the present day," said another envoy in the Austrian capital, where the IAEA is based.

But Western officials and experts suggested that research and experiments pointing to military nuclear aims may not have continued on the same scale as before 2003, when Iran started coming under increased Western pressure over its nuclear work.

"Iran is understood to have continued or restarted some R&D activities since then," said nuclear proliferation analyst Peter Crail of the US-based Arms Control Association, a research and advocacy group.

(source: Reuters)