CIA director: Iran would build nuclear weapons 'at their own peril'

LANGLEY, Va., March 22 (UPI) -- Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said on Sunday that Iran understands the consequences of building nuclear weapons, and that it would do so at its "own peril."

Speaking to "Fox News Sunday," Brennan asserted that U.S. intelligence has a firm grasp on Iran's capabilities and that even if Tehran decided to build a bomb, it would work against Iranian interests.

"There are a number of things that the United States has available to it to prevent Iran from getting a bomb," Brennan said. "President Obama has made it very clear that we are going to prevent Iran from having that type of nuclear weapon that they may have been going on track to obtain. So if they decide to go down that route they know that they will do so at their own peril."

The comments come as opposition to negotiations between the West and Iran over its nuclear program stiffens.

Earlier this month, 47 Republican U.S. senators sent a letter to Tehran warning that any deal struck with the Obama administration could easily be undone by a follow-on administration or by congressional veto.

The move came a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech to the U.S. Congress denouncing the talks, which aim to restrain Iran's nuclear capabilities in return for an alleviation of economic sanctions.

"This deal won't change Iran for the better. It will only change the Middle East for the worse," Netanyahu said, adding that the days are over when the "Jewish people remain passive in the face of a genocidal regime."

Iran has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, and while it claims its program is for energy purposes, the U.S. and Israel suspect it could be militarized.

When Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Brennan about claims of secret Iranian nuclear facilities unknown to the West, Brennan said he was confident in U.S. intelligence, which he said had a "good understanding of what the Iranian nuclear program entails."

"It's not an issue or a question of trusting the Iranians on this," Brennan said. "I think we've gone to school on some of those developments over the last decade or so. We can now have a better plan and opportunity to verify some of the things that they are saying that they're going to do and not do."

President Barack Obama said the negotiations were "a historic opportunity to resolve this issue peacefully -- an opportunity we should not miss." He threatened to veto any legislation designed to undo progress in the talks.