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Security Council to Avoid Substance in Iran Reaction
The U.N. Security Council’s veto-wielding members are expected to avoid substantive action when they first consider the International Atomic Energy Agency’s referral of Iran’s controversial nuclear activities, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 8). The council is expected to acknowledge the agency’s report and make no further comment, diplomats told Reuters. Delegates from permanent members China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed on a draft letter to the agency during a brief private meeting, the diplomats said. “It’s not time for substance. I think that is the common position of the P-5,” said Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, referring to the permanent members. “We received the resolution of the (IAEA) Board of Governors, and that is all,” said Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov. “No other steps are being planned or even discussed with the P-5. Not yet” (Irwin Arieff, Reuters I, Feb. 8). Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon would not necessarily lead to military action against Tehran, Reuters reported. “I don’t believe that even if Iran were in that position (of having the capability to make nuclear weapons) that there would be nothing the international community could do about it short of ... military action,” Straw said. Despite suspicions, Straw said that there is no proof that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons. “I am conscious of the fact, not least because of the experience in respect of Iraq, we have to be very precise about what we are claiming,” he said (Reuters II/Yahoo!News, Feb. 8). Elsewhere, Iranian Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaee said on a visit to Indonesia that Iran would not abandon its nuclear program, even under threats of military action, Reuters reported. “On the Iranian nuclear issue, we have always been clear in our action, and in Iran all of its nuclear (programs) have a peaceful mission,” he said. He also dismissed as fantastical U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s statement this week that Washington has not ruled out military strikes to stop Iran’s nuclear work. “It’s not surprising if Rumsfeld would resort to the threat of military action against Iran, but such a threat is as real as a Dracula’s sharp teeth,” he said (Reuters III/Yahoo!News, Feb. 9). Former Iranian nuclear chief Hassan Rohani has warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the nuclear standoff could lead to international isolation, Deutsche Presse Agentur reported today. “We should avail ourselves of all national means for not getting isolated, we cannot just reach our aims by shouting slogans and adopting one sole simple strategy,” Rohani told the official ISNA news agency in an interview released today (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Khaleej Times, Feb. 9). Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Turki al-Faisal, yesterday blamed Iran’s nuclear program and “inconsistent” U.S. policy for increasing regional tensions, the Associated Press reported. Al-Faisal also questioned the utility of nuclear weapons. “Where is Iran going to use these weapons?” he said. “If their intention is to bomb Israel, then they will kill Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians and Saudis, as well.” “Where is the value of having a weapon of destruction that people know you are not going to use?” al-Faisal said. Ordinary Iranians support Tehran’s nuclear plans, however, partly because of what they see as an inconsistent U.S. nonproliferation policy, he added. “(Iranians) see a double standard,” he said. “They see the U.S. government negotiating with North Korea ... and they see the U.S. signing a nuclear peace agreement with India .... and they see the U.S. turning a blind eye completely to Israel, although Israel has the most nuclear weapons in our part of the world” (Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, Feb. 9). China today announced support for nuclear talks scheduled for next week between Iran and Russia, Reuters reported. “We hope that this Russian invitation to Iran to hold talks on [Feb. 16] about participating in an international uranium enrichment center will help break, or encourage a break, in the current stalemate over the Iranian nuclear issue,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan. Kong did not, however, say whether Beijing intended to participate in the meeting (Reuters IV, Feb. 9).
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