French and German officials today urged Iran to join new talks with six world powers aimed at resolving a longstanding dispute over the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, Sept. 20).
(Sep. 21) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shown speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, today warned the United States against launching military strikes on his country (Stan Honda/Getty Images). The six states -- China, Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- have for years offered Iran political and economic incentives in exchange for halting uranium enrichment, an effort that can produce both nuclear bomb material and fuel for civilian applications. Tehran has defended its atomic ambitions as strictly civilian in nature and steadfastly refused to consider shuttering its enrichment program.
"(We) have presented a comprehensive offer of cooperation. Iran should follow up its words with deeds and return to the negotiating table now," German Economics and Technology Ministry official Jochen Homann told the International Atomic Energy Agency General Assembly.
Iran's actions forced the six negotiating powers to pursue harsh economic penalties against the nation, French Atomic Energy Commission official Bernard Bigot added. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution, and the European Union and a number of countries have independently enacted further penalties since that time.
"In acting in this fashion the international community is showing Iran that its choices are very costly indeed, ever more so," Bigot said.
Still, "we are convinced that a negotiated solution of the crisis is possible. We continue to appeal to Iran to finally choose to cooperate" (Dahl/Westall, Reuters I, Sept. 21).
Tehran today suggested new nuclear negotiations could soon take place, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Regarding the talks" with the six-nation negotiating group, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "has given frank views, and in principle we are ready for it," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
"We hope that, with a right approach towards acknowledging the Islamic republic's rights in engaging in peaceful (nuclear) activities, we will have talks in the near future," the official said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 21).
A top Iranian nuclear official, though, yesterday denounced use of economic pressure on his country.
"The uncivilized double-track approach of threat and dialogue cannot be conducive and fruitful," Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi told the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who addressed the conference after Salehi, indicated the Obama administration had no intention of changing its strategy.
"Iran must do what it has thus far failed to do -- meet its obligations and ensure the rest of the world of the peaceful nature of its intentions," he said. "Otherwise, it is clear that there is a broad and growing international consensus that will hold Iran accountable if it continues its defiance" (Dahl/Westall, Reuters II/Sept. 20).
Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman today said circumstances have changed since the International Atomic Energy Agency last year proposed exchanging a quantity of Iranian low-enriched uranium for material enriched to 20 percent.
Tehran ultimately rejected the plan worked out with France, Russia and the United States. The proposal sought to provide fuel for a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran while deferring the nation's enrichment activities long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability.
Iran in February began refining low-enriched uranium from its stockpile to 20 percent. Although the move was ostensibly intended to produce isotopes for a medical research reactor in Tehran, the United States and other Western powers have feared the process could help Iran produce nuclear-weapon material, which has an enrichment level around 90 percent.
"They did not accept (our) offer (and) much has happened since that time to alter the facts on the ground," AFP quoted Poneman as saying in Vienna. "We need to make sure that any engagement is in the context of that changed reality.
"We believe it is very important that they should engage on the wider suite of issues ... the wider security requirements that were discussed" by the six world powers, he said.
Addressing whether the United States would no longer consider the proposal, Poneman said, "I am not ruling anything in or out. I'm just telling you that they had an offer before them."
"They did not respond favorably to the offer. The facts on the ground have changed. They need to do something," he said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
U.S. Treasury Department Undersecretary Stuart Levey in a speech yesterday touted the impact international economic penalties were having on Iran.
"Almost daily we receive reports of major firms around the world deciding to pull out of business dealings with Iran," Levey said (Robert Burns, Associated Press I/Google News, Sept. 21).
"Because Iran is vulnerable, the strategy we have in place today is working to create the leverage we need to enhance our diplomatic options," AFP quoted him as saying.
"We are already receiving reports that the regime is quite worried about the impact of these measures, especially on their banking system and on the prospects for economic growth," Levey said.
"As pressure increases, so has internal criticism of (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and others for failing to prepare adequately for international sanctions and for underestimating their effect," he added.
"Iran's leaders are turning increasingly to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- Iran's military vanguard that has long been involved in Iran's terrorism and missile programs -- to prop up the economy," Levey said. "This is likely to exacerbate Iran's isolation, as companies around the world have begun to shun all business" with the organization, he said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Sept. 20).
However, "sanctions alone cannot really work" in pressuring Iran to alter its atomic stance, Kuwaiti security and intelligence adviser Sami Alfaraj told AP.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday said, "I think eventually we will have to deal with the reality that sanctions may not change the views of the Iranians on these issues" of atomic work (Burns, Associated Press I)
Turkey and other nations partnered with Washington have allowed ties in their territories to persist with Iranian banks targeted by Western nations for their alleged ties to Tehran's nuclear work, Reuters reported yesterday, citing multiple unreleased documents and statements by Western diplomats.
"Turkey's blossoming financial-economic relationship with Iran provides Iran with a gateway to the entire European financial system," says one intelligence assessment on Turkey and Iran. "The fact that Turkey is allowing itself to be used as a conduit for Iranian activity via Turkish banks and the Turkish lira is making it possible for Iranian funds in Turkish guise to make their way into Europe" (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters III, Sept. 20).
Ankara denied the report's allegations, AFP reported.
"I want to emphasize this: none of our businesses, none of our banks have made any move to break the embargo," Turkish State Minister Zafer Caglayan said (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
Iran's nuclear efforts might not be definitively aimed at establishing a nuclear arsenal, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans wrote in a commentary published today by the Daily Star.
"There is good reason to believe that the situation is less alarming and more containable than this. While a negotiated settlement acceptable to both Iran and the rest of the international community would be a hugely difficult undertaking, it is achievable," wrote Evans, a co-chairman of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
Senior Iranian officials and other high-level sources in recent years have suggested Tehran could avoid completing a nuclear bomb due to the economic, political, military and religious complications the step could create, Evans said (Gareth Evans, Daily Star, Sept. 21).
Elsewhere, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) yesterday said the United States must be ready to attack Iran to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear bomb, McClatchy Newspapers reported.
"If you use military force against Iran, you've opened up Pandora's box," Graham said. "If you allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, you've emptied Pandora's box. I'd rather open up Pandora's box than empty it" (James Rosen, McClatchy Newspapers/Miami Herald, Sept. 20).
By attacking Iran, the United States would enter a war with "no limits," Ahmadinejad told U.S. media today.
"The United States has never entered a serious war, and has never been victorious," AFP quoted the Iranian leader as saying while in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. "The United States doesn't understand what war looks like. When a war starts, it knows no limits" (Agence France-Presse V/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
(Sep. 21) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shown speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, today warned the United States against launching military strikes on his country (Stan Honda/Getty Images). "(We) have presented a comprehensive offer of cooperation. Iran should follow up its words with deeds and return to the negotiating table now," German Economics and Technology Ministry official Jochen Homann told the International Atomic Energy Agency General Assembly.
Iran's actions forced the six negotiating powers to pursue harsh economic penalties against the nation, French Atomic Energy Commission official Bernard Bigot added. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution, and the European Union and a number of countries have independently enacted further penalties since that time.
"In acting in this fashion the international community is showing Iran that its choices are very costly indeed, ever more so," Bigot said.
Still, "we are convinced that a negotiated solution of the crisis is possible. We continue to appeal to Iran to finally choose to cooperate" (Dahl/Westall, Reuters I, Sept. 21).
Tehran today suggested new nuclear negotiations could soon take place, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Regarding the talks" with the six-nation negotiating group, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "has given frank views, and in principle we are ready for it," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
"We hope that, with a right approach towards acknowledging the Islamic republic's rights in engaging in peaceful (nuclear) activities, we will have talks in the near future," the official said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 21).
A top Iranian nuclear official, though, yesterday denounced use of economic pressure on his country.
"The uncivilized double-track approach of threat and dialogue cannot be conducive and fruitful," Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi told the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who addressed the conference after Salehi, indicated the Obama administration had no intention of changing its strategy.
"Iran must do what it has thus far failed to do -- meet its obligations and ensure the rest of the world of the peaceful nature of its intentions," he said. "Otherwise, it is clear that there is a broad and growing international consensus that will hold Iran accountable if it continues its defiance" (Dahl/Westall, Reuters II/Sept. 20).
Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman today said circumstances have changed since the International Atomic Energy Agency last year proposed exchanging a quantity of Iranian low-enriched uranium for material enriched to 20 percent.
Tehran ultimately rejected the plan worked out with France, Russia and the United States. The proposal sought to provide fuel for a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran while deferring the nation's enrichment activities long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability.
Iran in February began refining low-enriched uranium from its stockpile to 20 percent. Although the move was ostensibly intended to produce isotopes for a medical research reactor in Tehran, the United States and other Western powers have feared the process could help Iran produce nuclear-weapon material, which has an enrichment level around 90 percent.
"They did not accept (our) offer (and) much has happened since that time to alter the facts on the ground," AFP quoted Poneman as saying in Vienna. "We need to make sure that any engagement is in the context of that changed reality.
"We believe it is very important that they should engage on the wider suite of issues ... the wider security requirements that were discussed" by the six world powers, he said.
Addressing whether the United States would no longer consider the proposal, Poneman said, "I am not ruling anything in or out. I'm just telling you that they had an offer before them."
"They did not respond favorably to the offer. The facts on the ground have changed. They need to do something," he said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
U.S. Treasury Department Undersecretary Stuart Levey in a speech yesterday touted the impact international economic penalties were having on Iran.
"Almost daily we receive reports of major firms around the world deciding to pull out of business dealings with Iran," Levey said (Robert Burns, Associated Press I/Google News, Sept. 21).
"Because Iran is vulnerable, the strategy we have in place today is working to create the leverage we need to enhance our diplomatic options," AFP quoted him as saying.
"We are already receiving reports that the regime is quite worried about the impact of these measures, especially on their banking system and on the prospects for economic growth," Levey said.
"As pressure increases, so has internal criticism of (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and others for failing to prepare adequately for international sanctions and for underestimating their effect," he added.
"Iran's leaders are turning increasingly to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- Iran's military vanguard that has long been involved in Iran's terrorism and missile programs -- to prop up the economy," Levey said. "This is likely to exacerbate Iran's isolation, as companies around the world have begun to shun all business" with the organization, he said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Sept. 20).
However, "sanctions alone cannot really work" in pressuring Iran to alter its atomic stance, Kuwaiti security and intelligence adviser Sami Alfaraj told AP.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday said, "I think eventually we will have to deal with the reality that sanctions may not change the views of the Iranians on these issues" of atomic work (Burns, Associated Press I)
Turkey and other nations partnered with Washington have allowed ties in their territories to persist with Iranian banks targeted by Western nations for their alleged ties to Tehran's nuclear work, Reuters reported yesterday, citing multiple unreleased documents and statements by Western diplomats.
"Turkey's blossoming financial-economic relationship with Iran provides Iran with a gateway to the entire European financial system," says one intelligence assessment on Turkey and Iran. "The fact that Turkey is allowing itself to be used as a conduit for Iranian activity via Turkish banks and the Turkish lira is making it possible for Iranian funds in Turkish guise to make their way into Europe" (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters III, Sept. 20).
Ankara denied the report's allegations, AFP reported.
"I want to emphasize this: none of our businesses, none of our banks have made any move to break the embargo," Turkish State Minister Zafer Caglayan said (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
Iran's nuclear efforts might not be definitively aimed at establishing a nuclear arsenal, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans wrote in a commentary published today by the Daily Star.
"There is good reason to believe that the situation is less alarming and more containable than this. While a negotiated settlement acceptable to both Iran and the rest of the international community would be a hugely difficult undertaking, it is achievable," wrote Evans, a co-chairman of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
Senior Iranian officials and other high-level sources in recent years have suggested Tehran could avoid completing a nuclear bomb due to the economic, political, military and religious complications the step could create, Evans said (Gareth Evans, Daily Star, Sept. 21).
Elsewhere, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) yesterday said the United States must be ready to attack Iran to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear bomb, McClatchy Newspapers reported.
"If you use military force against Iran, you've opened up Pandora's box," Graham said. "If you allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, you've emptied Pandora's box. I'd rather open up Pandora's box than empty it" (James Rosen, McClatchy Newspapers/Miami Herald, Sept. 20).
By attacking Iran, the United States would enter a war with "no limits," Ahmadinejad told U.S. media today.
"The United States has never entered a serious war, and has never been victorious," AFP quoted the Iranian leader as saying while in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. "The United States doesn't understand what war looks like. When a war starts, it knows no limits" (Agence France-Presse V/Spacewar.com, Sept. 21).
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