Iran’s president wants to shed the nation’s secrecy and forge ahead openly with developing nuclear weapons, but is opposed by the clerical leadership, which is worried about international reaction to such a move, an intelligence assessment hedged Friday.

That report, from what the Associated Press called “a nation with traditionally reliable intelligence from the region,” could not be confirmed and it contrasts with assessments by other countries that view Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as relatively moderate on the nuclear issue compared to the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Attempts to interpret Iran’s goals are important because as it expands uranium enrichment, it is moving closer to being able to make a nuclear weapon, even as it asserts that it is not interested in such arms and its programs are geared only to making reactor fuel.

A US official cited one assessment he has seen suggesting Ahmadinejad may be more “moderate” — more open to talks with the international community on resolving nuclear concerns than Khamenei.

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