Your assertion that the most recent International Atomic Energy Agency's report on Iran's nuclear programme uses “old intelligence” to provide “the sharpest picture yet of the weapon that Iran hopes to develop” (Nature 479, 282; 2011) warrants some contextual explanation.

Some analysts say that this intelligence dates from the turn of the millennium. This is because the latest US National Intelligence Estimates of Iran's nuclear programme (one issued in 2007 and another earlier this year), which represent a consensus of all 16 US intelligence agencies, concluded that Iran ended its efforts to build a nuclear weapon in 2003 (see go.nature.com/ms1sq7).

Many of the same political elements that erroneously claimed that Iraq had nuclear weapons are the ones now insisting that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. This time around, let's be sure of the facts.