Report on Iranian Test Lacks Evidence, Rice Says

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested yesterday that there is little evidence supporting a report claiming that Iran is preparing an underground site to test a nuclear weapon as soon as this year, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 24).

In a London Telegraph article yesterday, a senior European defense official said, “All the indications are that the Iranians are working hard to prepare for their own underground nuclear test.”

Rice, however, played down that possibility.

“I don’t see what that it’s based on anything that I’ve seen,” she told reporters in Paris.  “I don’t see what it’s based on” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 24).

Meanwhile, domestic opposition appears to be growing to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nuclear policies, the London Guardian reported.  Critics have emerged since the U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iran after Tehran refused to freeze its uranium enrichment program (see GSN, Jan. 16).

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who lost the 2005 presidential election to Ahmadinejad, has created a political committee to assess Iran’s nuclear strategy and has urged a policy of negotiating with the west, according to the Guardian.

“Before the sanctions, Rafsanjani hoped Iran could obtain its enrichment objectives through mutual understanding with the west.  But now he thinks we have reached a dangerous point and that a step should be taken backwards in the hope that two forward can be taken later,” said Mohammad Atrianfar, a political commentator and Rafsanjani associate.

“He doesn’t see negotiation as a sign of weakness,” he added.  “He wants to limit the impact of the sanctions and get [supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and the government to accept that if Iran faces mounting sanctions or a military attack or any crisis which damages the economic life of the people, then there is a possibility of the whole system collapsing.”

“Things have changed since the early days of the Islamic revolution, when people would sacrifice their lives.  Now they will only defend the system if it provides them a safe life,” Atrianfar said (Robert Trait, The Guardian, Jan. 24).

In Israel, political leaders have continued to suggest that they would not permit Iran to achieve the capability of producing nuclear weapons.

“We can stand up against nuclear threats and even prevent them,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday in a speech.

Israeli officials have said that action must be taken before Iran successfully installs enough uranium enrichment centrifuges to manufacture weapon-grade uranium, the London Independent reported.

Some outside observers believe Israeli leaders are seriously contemplating a pre-emptive attack and are now working to build domestic political support for such action.

“They’re watering the turf,” said a senior British military source. “The Iranians are not under enough pressure” (Anne Penketh, The Independent, Jan. 25).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.