Washington, Nov 7 : Iran has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, a UN nuclear watchdog has claimed.

According to Western diplomats and nuclear experts, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) received intelligence that former Soviet scientists taught the Iranians to construct “high-precision detonators” that can be used to “trigger a nuclear chain reaction,” the Washington Post reports.

Documents and other records have revealed that crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability.

The evidence also points out that Iran continued to conduct weapons-related research after 2003, when US intelligence said that Tehran buckled to international pressures and halted such experiments, the paper said.

The UN nuclear watchdog is due to release a report this week laying out its findings on Tehran’s efforts to obtain sensitive nuclear technology.

Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed the report, saying that IAEA’s new intelligence on alleged nuclear weapons work by the regime is ‘fabricated’. (ANI)