European Fears of U.S. Attacks on Iran Contribute to Western Rift Over Nuclear Crisis Strategy

Growing fears among European leaders that the United States could initiate military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program have led to a widening disagreement between the Western nations over how to deal with the Iranian nuclear crisis, the London Guardian reported today (see GSN, Jan. 30).

Two other issues have also contributed to the rift:  the question of how quickly to impose economic sanctions against Iran following a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for such measures and the matter of coping with Russian reluctance to act in the Security Council, according to the Guardian.

“The clock is ticking,” said one European diplomat.  “Military action has come back on to the table more seriously than before.  The language in the U.S. has changed” (Traynor/Steele, The Guardian, Jan. 31).

U.S. President George W. Bush last week authorized U.S. forces in Iraq to fire on Iranian personnel deemed threatening.

“We don’t believe that [Iran’s] behavior, such as supporting Shia extremists in Iraq, should go unchallenged,” Deputy Secretary of State-designate John Negroponte said yesterday in his Senate confirmation hearing (Helene Cooper, New York Times, Jan. 31).

The tough U.S. talk has created fears among some critics that Washington will strike Iran for strategic reasons, but justify the move on local security concerns, the Guardian reported.

In addition to concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the Bush administration has expressed worries that Iran could be expanding its regional influence.

“We don’t want a progressively more confident and bolder Iran,” a senior U.S. official said yesterday.  “The perception that Iran is ascendant in the region and that there are no limits to what Iran can do — that’s what is destabilizing” (Traynor/Steele, The Guardian).

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department has ordered a freeze on all sales of spare F-14 fighter jet parts, equipment long sought by Iran to maintain its fleet of F-14s purchased from the United States before the 1979 revolution, the Associated Press reported today.

The United States retired its F-14s last year and put thousands of now-unneeded spare parts up for sale.  After seeing evidence that Iran was purchasing some of those parts through third-party buyers, the Pentagon on Friday ordered a ban on all parts sales (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Jan. 31).

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