Nuclear Weapon Report

In a report carried by the New York Times newspaper,/ intelligence officials and nuclear experts say/ Iran and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have both made "significant progress" / developing nuclear weapons programs in the past year./ The report says United States officials want to step up covert actions /to stall Iran’s alleged nuclear arms efforts, /since diplomatic initiatives with European and Asian allies have failed to curtail the programs. /The officials say despite toughened sanctions and several rounds of six-nation talks,/ Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has enough weapons-grade plutonium/ to test a weapon in the future./ It is reported both the Iranian and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea weapons programs are increasingly self sufficient thanks/ to help from Pakistani scientists. /The assessment comes from a new classified intelligence report, /which the papers says was written far more cautiously than the National Intelligence Estimate /that erroneously described advanced weapons programs in Iraq.