Global Security Newswire

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today said the Obama administration would consider extending protection to its Middle Eastern allies if Iran continues its disputed nuclear activities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 21).

The United States would "still hold the door open" for negotiations aimed at ending Iranian atomic activities that could support nuclear weapons development, but Washington is prepared to take "crippling action" if Tehran presses ahead with the controversial work, Clinton said. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program iis strictly peaceful.

The "nuclear clock is ticking" and the United States is willing to "upgrade the defense of our partners in the region," she added (Agence France-Presse I/ChannelNewsAsia, July 22).

"We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment that, if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the Gulf, it's unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can, once they have a nuclear weapon," Clinton said, according to the Voice of America.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany are "not going to keep the window open forever" for Iran to join multilateral nuclear talks, she added. The six powers have offered Tehran diplomatic and economic benefits in exchange for halting its disputed atomic work, but Iran has shown little interest in the proposal (David Gollust, Voice of America, July 22).

One high-level Israeli official today expressed concern about Clinton's comments, AFP reported

"I heard without enthusiasm the American declarations according to which the United States will defend their allies in the event that Iran uses nuclear weapons, as if they were already resigned to such a possibility," said Israeli Intelligence Services Minister Dan Meridor.

"This is a mistake," he said. "We cannot act now by assuming that Iran will be able to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, but to prevent such a possibility."

Clinton later sought to clarify her statement.

"I'm not suggesting a new policy. In fact we all believe that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and I've said that many times," she said. "I'm simply pointing out that Iran needs to understand that it's pursuit of nuclear weapons will not advance its security or achieve its goals of enhancing its power regionally and globally" (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, July 22).

U.S. senators yesterday voted to adopt an amendment that would call on President Barack Obama to take punitive action if Iran does not move toward halting its disputed nuclear activities this year, one sponsor of the legislation announced.

The amendment to the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act would urge Obama to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran if the nation failed to join nuclear talks ahead of a 20-nation summit in September or if Tehran did not halt its uranium enrichment and reprocessing work within 60 days of the event (U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman release, July 21).

Iran's contested presidential election last month might force Tehran to make nuclear concessions to outside powers, said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former State Department official now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"I'm not at all optimistic, but I don't rule out the possibility that the [Iranian] regime's new need for legitimacy could make it more willing to accept some tactical compromise to get back to the negotiating table," Fitzpatrick told the Council on Foreign Relations, according to United Press International (United Press International, July 21).

Meanwhile, the opening of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant has been delayed, state media reported yesterday.

Russian atomic agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko said his organization "has a plan to launch the operation of Bushehr plant by the end of this year," Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

An Iranian official indicated in April that the plant would start producing energy this summer (Xinhua News Agency, July 21).

Elsewhere, New York City intends to sell roughly $10.8 million in pension investments in two firms linked to Iran, the city's comptroller announced Sunday.

New York City Comptroller William Thompson asked pension fund trustees to divest an additional $141 million in companies with ties to the Middle Eastern state.

“The decision to divest holdings in the two companies and my recommendation to divest in an additional eight companies were made after careful consideration of numerous events and factors, including the Iranian government’s recent efforts to strengthen its nuclear weapons program and steal its presidential election,” Thompson said in a statement (New York City Comptroller release, July 19).