And now with Iran, intelligence judgments remain anchored to a controversial 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that in 2003, Tehran had "halted" its nuclear weapon design and weaponization work.

CNN: Obama's Iran problem and the Bush doctrine

The prospect of an American strike diminished after America's intelligence services published their inconvenient finding last December that Iran had stopped trying to design a nuclear weapon in 2003.

ECONOMIST: Israel and Iran

Meanwhile documents turned up that showed design work to fit a nuclear-weapon-sized object into the nose-cone of a Shahab missile but Iran dismissed them as forgeries.

ECONOMIST: Diplomacy and Iran