Bolton terms Iran all-clear a "quasi-coup"

Dec 8, 2007, 12:24 GMT

Hamburg - John Bolton, the hawkish former US ambassador to the United Nations, has used the term quasi-coup to describe a US intelligence all-clear on Iran, the German news magazine Der Spiegel said Saturday.

According to the German translation of his remarks in an interview, Bolton said: 'This is politics under the guise of intelligence reporting.'

He was commenting on this week's joint finding by 16 US intelligence agencies that Iran had apparently abandoned in 2003 its efforts to build the bomb. Bolton favours a confrontational approach to Iran.

He said the intelligence agencies were unhappy with the administration of US President George W Bush and were trying to influence it by their actions and analysis.

The surprise report was 'a quasi-coup against the president', said Bolton. The German transcript was released Saturday, two days before the magazine goes on sale.