United States intelligence information of Iran's nuclear program often is faulty and even unfounded, according to Austrian diplomatic sources. Most of the American intelligence about supposed secret weapons has led to dead ends when investigated by IAEA inspectors, they said. "They gave us a paper with a list of sites...but there was no sign of [banned nuclear] activities," one official stated.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran is defying a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear program.