Iran, West Spar Over Nuclear Aims

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly promised he would not halt his country’s uranium enrichment efforts in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept. 25).

Before the Iranian leader’s address, U.S. President George W. Bush urged national leaders to undertake a “mission of liberation” against authoritarian regimes, referring specifically to Iran’s government.

While Bush did not directly address Iran’s nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials expressed support for crafting a new Security Council resolution to place a third round of sanctions on Iran for the country’s refusal to abandon its disputed nuclear activities (Baker/Wright, Washington Post, Sept. 26).

Ahmadinejad maintained that Iran’s nuclear program is intended purely for civilian use and accused the United States and other powerful nations of using the U.N. Security Council to impose what he called a “master-servant relationship of the Medieval Age” (Warren Hoge, New York Times, Sept 25).

“In the last two years, abusing the Security Council, the arrogant powers have repeatedly accused Iran and even made military threats and imposed illegal sanctions against it,” Ahmadinejad said.

While he castigated the council sanctions, Ahmadinejad defended his country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Fortunately, the IAEA has recently tried to regain its legal role as support of the rights of its members while supervising nuclear activities,” he said.  “We see this as a correct approach adopted by the agency.”

“Previously, they illegally insisted on politicizing the Iranian nation's nuclear case, but today, because of the resistance of the Iranian nation, the issue is back to the agency, and I officially announce that in our opinion the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary agency matter,” he said.

Iran now plans to “pursue the issue through its appropriate legal path, one that runs through the IAEA, and to disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers,” he said.

Although Iran has allowed agency inspectors to examine the country’s known nuclear sites, IAEA officials are now prevented from conducting short-notice inspections anywhere in the country as they had once been allowed to do (Edith Lederer, Associated Press I/London Guardian, Sept. 25).

Later asked whether Iran was helping Syria to develop its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said, “Next question.”

French President Nicholas Sarkozy said yesterday that a balance of “firmness and dialogue” would be needed to resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute, AP reported.

“There will not be peace in the world if the international community falters in the face of the proliferation of nuclear arms,” he said.  The nuclear standoff “will only be resolved if firmness and dialogue go hand-in-hand.” (Sarah DiLorenzo, Associated Press II/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25).

“The decisions by the United States and France are not important,” Ahmadinejad later said in reply to Sarkozy during his address.  “What is important is that our nuclear program is within the rules of the IAEA and our program as such will continue” (Hoge, New York Times).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would support a new round of sanctions against Iran if the country continues to defy international demands that it halt its uranium enrichment program, which could yield a nuclear weapon ingredient.

Merkel said a nuclear-armed Iran would have a devastating effect not just on Israel and the Middle East, but on Europe and the rest of the world.

“For this reason, the international community must not let itself become splintered” in dealing with Iran, Merkel said.

“The world should not have to prove to Iran that it is building a (nuclear) bomb, but Iran must convince the world that it doesn't want to build a nuclear bomb,” she said (Associated Press II).

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday that would enact new sanctions against Iran’s energy industry and label the county’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist entity, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 1).

The bill, passed by a 397-16 vote, would cut off energy revenue that Iran could divert to its nuclear program, sanctioning foreign firms with U.S. subsidiaries with business ties to Iran’s oil and gas sectors.  The bill would also prohibit U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation with countries that support Iran’s nuclear program.

“I wish that we could take Ahmadinejad at his word, but we obviously cannot,” said House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Representative Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who sponsored the legislation.

“Too many foreign energy firms have become functional allies in Tehran's efforts to build a nuclear bomb,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), the committee’s ranking Republican (Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Sept. 25).

“We want more banks, and now suppliers, to assess the risk” of doing business with Iran, U.S. national security advisor Stephen Hadley told the New York Times.

The main concern is “at what point the regime, or elements of the regime, say ‘this [nuclear] policy is taking us into a ditch,’” he said (Hoge, New York Times).

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.