In an interview with Daily Kos [2], Jacqueline Shire [3]of the Ploughshares-funded Institute for Science and International Security [4]discussed Iran’s nuclear program and nuclear proliferation in other countries. She commented on a London Times story that Iran ended its weaponization effort in 2003, calling it “hawkish and overstated and sort of hyperventilating.” Shire suggested “the reason that Iran suspended its weaponization R & D effort in 2003 is... the United States had invaded Iraq and was breathing down [Iran's] neck and maybe it was a new day and it was going to be a new world the next morning, but also possibly because their scientists had kind of learned what they needed to learn.” Shire also discusses the geopolitical implications of such a program and international reaction.
Links
[1] https://www.ploughshares.org/file/1070
[2] http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/16/767114/-Iran,-Nuclear-Breakout,-and-Hope-for-the-Future:-An-Interview-With-Jacqueline-Shire
[3] http://www.ploughshares.org/expert/178
[4] http://www.isis-online.org/