Former top U.S. diplomat John Bolton says that Washington has lost the race with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear program.

“We have lost the race with Iran on the nuclear front,” Bolton said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday.
“They now have complete mastery over the nuclear fuel cycle,” he added.
Former UN ambassador made the remarks after Iran announced on Wednesday that it has launched the test-stage of its first nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr.
Washington and their allies accuse Tehran of having a covert nuclear weapons program. Iran, however, says its uranium enrichment program is a peaceful drive to produce nuclear energy.
Earlier this month, IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei issued a report, reconfirming the “non-diversion” of declared nuclear material in the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog recently affirmed that Iran is far from “a breakout capacity” to produce a bomb, “we think they (Iranians) are not there,” said an IAEA official.
Last month, Bolton said that he seriously advised President Barack Obama to opt for a military attack on Iran’s uranium enrichment, should three months of direct negotiation with Iran prove to be a failure.
Bolton also suggested that only ‘regime change’ in Iran could resolve the standoff but added that the idea is not practical any more.
The former diplomat quit his UN job in 2006 after failing to win Senate confirmation and worked as a senior foreign policy adviser to former president George W. Bush.
(Source: Press TV)