Posted on 10/03/2004 9:27:47 AM PDT by TexasTaysor
Iran Rebuffs Kerry Nuclear Proposal
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday rebuffed a proposal by U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry who has suggested supplying the Islamic state with nuclear fuel for power reactors if Tehran agrees to give up its own fuel-making capability.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said it would be "irrational" for Iran to put its nuclear program in jeopardy by relying on supplies from abroad.
"We have the technology (to make nuclear fuel) and there is no need for us to beg from others," Asefi told a weekly news conference.
Washington says Iran plans to use its nuclear facilities to make atom bombs. Tehran says it merely wants to generate electricity from nuclear power.
President Bush wants Iran referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
But Kerry says he would put Iran's intentions to the test by agreeing to supply it with nuclear fuel for its power reactors provided Tehran stopped efforts to make its own fuel and returned the spent fuel after use.
Iran has rejected repeated efforts by European countries to get it to scrap its nuclear fuel-cycle activities -- which could be used to make atomic bombs.
Asefi said Iran could not trust any deal from the West to supply it with reactor fuel.
"What guarantees are there? Will they supply us one day and then, if they want to, stop supplying us on another day?" he said.
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, in comments published in Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday, stressed the Bush administration's tough line on Iran.
"We are not considering any military intervention at the moment. But our position is that we should not exclude any option from the start. Iran must understand that our policy red line is the acquisition of nuclear weapons," he said.
"The most important thing at the moment is to get Iran on to the agenda of the U.N. Security Council to demonstrate that the international community won't accept it acquiring nuclear status," he added.
Kerry needs to be hammered on the substance of his debate points every day, all day!
More bad news for the "Kerry Doctrine." First, France/Germany say no way they'll send more troops to Iraq under a Kerry administration. Now, Iran rejects his "solution" to the Iran nuke proliferation problem.
TOO much nuance....
Iran believes its sources of nuclear fuel for its reactors may be compromised by relying on the whims of some foreign power?
How about world petroleum supplies being compromised by the whim of a consortium of Middle Eastern countries?
Time to start hauling cabbages out of empty space, by exploiting the "dark matter" out there.
Yeah, the "Man with the Plan".......just that he's the wrong man, at the wrong time, in the wrong place....and now we can add with the wrong plan.
I love it. The man with all the answers has been shot down in one of his foreign policy plans almost as soon as it was out of his mouth.
"Kerry Doctrine" BUMP ;-)
Well, when you look at it from Iran's POV, they have no need to lie to get what they need, as North Korea did. They have the materials necessary to develop nuclear weapons so why relinquish their power to a nobody like Kerry?
It must be hard. When even France, Germany and Iran turn on you, well, he's losing his allies before even elected!
Hey to the RNC lurkers - How about an advertisment showing the opening of Nightline and Day 255 America held hostage. Then ask the question, "Can we make deals with this country? Do the leaders of Iran follow any international rules?" President Bush and Colin Powell know something about negotiating from strength - Sen. Kerry would return us to a time of negotiating from weakness.
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