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Sufficient Evidence Supports Concern Over Iran Nuclear Program, U.S. Officials Say
U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday defended his concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions and responded to reports that the United States lacks enough intelligence on Tehran’s plans (see GSN, March 3). “I think it’s very wise for the free world to be concerned about the Iranians’ desire to develop a weapon,” he said. “One reason there needs to be worry about Iran is that this is a nontransparent society. There’s no openness,” Bush added. “It’s very easy for them to solve the problem, and that is to not only give assurances about any nuclear weapons program, but to allow full IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspection processes in a transparent way,” he said (AFP/SpaceWar.com, March 9). Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said yesterday that there was enough reason for concern, AFP reported. “I believe that there is enough evidence that there are problems with Iran’s civilian nuclear power ambitions,” Rice told Univision. There are “a number of countries, and indeed the International Atomic Energy Agency itself, that are concerned about suspicious activities in Iran,” she said. “That is why there have been IAEA investigators going out to Iran. That is why the Russians have determined that when they build a nuclear reactor for Iran, they will have to take back the fuel so that there is no proliferation risk,” she said. Rice declined to comment reports of the bipartisan intelligence review critical of the quality of U.S. intelligence on Iran. “But, of course, Iran is not an easy place to know precisely what is going on. It’s a very closed-in society,” she said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 9). Meanwhile, the latest round of negotiations between Iran and the European Union is expected to end tonight in Geneva with the two sides deadlocked over demands that Tehran abandon uranium enrichment, Iranian state media reported. The two sides “will draw up their conclusions and present them to the technical committee,” said Iranian negotiator Sirous Naseri. The committee is scheduled to meet next week to examine conclusions, Naseri said (IRNA/Payvand, March 10). France, Germany and the United Kingdom have told Iranian officials that if they insist on enriching uranium, they should “put in place objective guarantees as good as their abandoning the fuel cycle and they haven’t come back on that,” said one European diplomat, AFP reported. While Iran has threatened to abandon talks and end its temporary freeze on uranium enrichment if a sufficient incentives package is not offered soon, the European nations have been content to drag out the negotiations, said the diplomat. “As long as we’re talking, the Iranians are suspending their fuel cycle activities, and that is good.” Another European diplomat said the process may depend on Iranian presidential elections in June. “One side may be prepared to make a deal. Another side may want a bomb at all costs,” the diplomat said. A third European diplomat said the negotiations “certainly are tough but the Iranians will never make a concession even at the 11th hour. They will wait for the very last minute or seconds” (AFP/SpaceWar.com, March 10). Elsewhere, a senior Pakistani official acknowledged today that Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan provided Iran with uranium enrichment centrifuges, but insisted Islamabad had nothing to do with the transfer, the Associated Press reported. “Dr. Abdul Qadeer gave some centrifuges to Iran,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told AP. “He helped Iran in his personal capacity, and the Pakistan government had nothing to do with it.” The disclosure marked the first time the Pakistani government has admitted Khan gave nuclear technology to Iran, according to AP (Associated Press/MSNBC, March 10).
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