http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english <http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m= September&x=20060907152620sjhtrop0.8922083> &y=2006&m=September&x=20060907152620sjhtrop0.8922083
More Nations See Through Iran's Nuclear Claims, U.S. Envoy Says Ambassador Schulte says Iran must respect international demands or face sanctions By Jacquelyn S. Porth Washington File Security Affairs Writer <javascript:;> Washington - An increasing number of nations are agreeing with the United States that Iran's nuclear activities are not consistent with its professed peaceful intentions, says a senior U.S. official based in Austria. Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the Press Club Concordia in Vienna, Austria, September 5 that Iran's dogged pursuit of uranium enrichment and plutonium production are not needed for civil nuclear energy, but they are "the two primary means for producing material for a nuclear weapon." Past overtures to the Iranian government by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohammad ElBaradei have fallen on deaf ears, according to Schulte, who represents the United States at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. (See related <http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m= August&x=20060825105705btruevecer0.9379694> article.) ElBaradei's August 31 report on Iran's nuclear program demonstrates Iran's repeated stonewalling of IAEA efforts to gain access to requested information, Schulte said. Even after trying for three years, the IAEA chief still cannot certify the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, added Schulte, who also represents the United States at the IAEA. "Iran has failed to satisfy IAEA concerns about its work on advanced centrifuges," the U.S. ambassador said. Iranian leaders have ignored U.N. requirements, shown disrespect for their international obligations, and remained defiant of international concerns, Schulte said. "More and more governments have come to the same conclusions as my own," he said: "That Iran's nuclear program - with its history of secrecy and violations, its ties to the A.Q. Khan network, its connections to Iran's military - is actually a cover for developing nuclear weapons." The U.S. goal remains to hammer out a diplomatic solution, said Schulte -- one in which Iranian leaders "give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons and fully meet their international obligations." That is why U.S. officials are working with their counterparts in Europe, Russia, China and elsewhere to offer a clear choice to Tehran, the ambassador said. (See related <http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m= September&x=20060905181727mlenuhret0.7899439> article.) The positive, constructive choice that would best benefit the Iranian people would be for the Iranian government "to cooperate with the international community and to take credible steps to assure the world that their nuclear program is solely peaceful," Schulte said. Schulte said this process has to start with Iran meeting IAEA and U.N. Security Council requirements "to suspend all activities related [to] uranium enrichment and plutonium production." Absent that, the official said, international sanctions should be imposed on Iran "in a graduated fashion." (See related <http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m= September&x=20060906145554idybeekcm1.520938e-02> article.) INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS SHOULD BE TARGETED Sanctions are an integral part of the international diplomatic effort, Schulte said, and they should "target Iran's weapons program[s] and those who guide and support them." Such sanctions, he said, "will help Iran's leaders understand that international obligations are to be treated seriously." Tehran's leaders "must understand that their choices have consequences, and that their best choice remains a course of cooperation and negotiation," Schulte said. He added that Iran also should understand that a negative choice "could spark a nuclear arms race in one of the world's most volatile regions," and potentially could destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- "a cornerstone of international peace and security" - to which Tehran is a signatory. HOW CLOSE IS IRAN TO A NUCLEAR WEAPON? It is a subject of debate how close Iran might be to developing a nuclear weapon. Israeli sources have suggested Iran might be only a couple years away from that point, but U.S. intelligence sources place that stage further in the future. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told National Public Radio September 1 that Iran likely will achieve a nuclear weapon capability in five years to 10 years if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions. The U.S. intelligence community estimates that Iran will conclude the necessary developments "sometime beginning in the next decade," Negroponte said, or perhaps in "the middle of the next decade." The Iranians have engaged in a process of "denial and deception" with respect to their nuclear intentions, Negroponte said. That process made it difficult for intelligence analysts to "know whether there's a secret military program and to what extent that program has made progress." A transcript <http://www.dni.gov/interviews/20060901_interview.pdf> of Negroponte's NPR interview is available on the DNI Web site. The full text <http://www.usun-vienna.rpo.at/> of Schulte's prepared remarks is available on the Web site of the U.S. Mission to International Organizations. For more information, see Arms <http://usinfo.state.gov/is/international_security/UNGA_2005.html> Control and Non-Proliferation. (The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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