Intelligence chiefs see Iranian nuclear ambitions as global security threat

By Global Watch and AFP | 2024-12-02

Iran's nuclear ambitions pose a major global security threat even after setbacks dealt to Hamas and Hezbollah, the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence chief said November 29.

"Iran's allied militias across the Middle East have suffered serious blows," MI6 chief Richard Moore said in a speech in Paris. "But the regime's nuclear ambitions continue to threaten all of us."

The United Nations nuclear agency has confirmed that Iran plans to install about 6,000 new centrifuges to enrich uranium, according to a report seen by AFP on November 29.

"Iran informed the Agency that it intended to feed" about 6,000 centrifuges at its sites in Fordo and Natanz to enrich uranium to up to 5%, higher than the 3.67% limit Tehran had agreed to in 2015.

Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon and fear the upsurge in tensions with Israel over Gaza and Lebanon will only accelerate that process.

After authorities in the United States and Europe warned of the risk to Iranian exiles of killings and even kidnappings, Moore said "the Iranian regime maintains its efforts to eliminate dissidents at home and abroad."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu November 28 said that Israel would do "everything" to stop Tehran acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Moore, a former British ambassador to Turkey, has combined a career in the secret service and diplomacy and is the first chief of M16 -- a position traditionally known as "C" -- to be active on social media.

Unprecedented danger

"In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I have never seen the world in a more dangerous state," he commented.

In the highly unusual event organized by the UK embassy in Paris to celebrate security and intelligence ties, Moore was introduced by his French counterpart, Nicolas Lerner, director general of France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE).

"The possible nuclear proliferation in Iran" constitutes "one of the threats, if not the most critical threat in the coming months", said Lerner.

"The exchange of intelligence will be crucial to enable our authorities to make the right decisions and define the right strategies," the French intelligence chief added.