Far from being the whitewash some had predicted, a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states clearly that Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003 and continued some research for six more years.

The highly anticipated document on the possible military dimensions (PMD) of the Iranian nuclear program, however, broke little new ground in terms of what the international intelligence community already knew. Experts said the findings are unlikely to impede implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) curbing Iran's nuclear program for at least a decade in return for relief of economic sanctions.

Gary Samore, a nuclear expert at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told Al-Monitor in an email that the IAEA report "is a very solid technical judgment by the IAEA, not intimidated by Iran's threats."

"The real question," Samore continued, is how the IAEA Board of Governors reacts to the report, especially whether the Board decides that the PMD investigation is essentially completed."