Posted on 11/19/2004 5:50:42 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is building a case against Iran with disclosures of a covert nuclear weapons program that carry echoes of the run-up to the war with Iraq.
Just as the campaign against Saddam Hussein did not draw the support of all U.S. allies and strained trans-Atlantic relations, the administration is at odds with many Europeans on Iran.
While Britain, France and Germany are trying to work out an agreement in which Iran would terminate or dismantle its nuclear weapons systems, the administration is skeptical, saying Iran in the past has broken promises to stop enriching uranium.
On Monday, Iran is to temporarily suspend enrichment, but the deal still must be sealed in a detailed way in another round of talks planned for Dec. 15 between the European Union nations and Iran.
Diplomatic overtures to Iran do not appear to be part of the U.S. strategy, but Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage told the Arab world Friday, "We're talking about resolving this problem by diplomatic means."
"War is obviously not an option that we want to consider if we can help it," Armitage said in an interview on the Al-Jazeera television network.
Armitage also was skeptical of European diplomacy with Iran, but said, "We are not trying to block them. That's fine. Let's see if it works."
Even though Secretary of State Colin Powell will attend an Iraq conference next week in Egypt with diplomats from Iran and other countries, he has no plan to meet with Iranian diplomats on U.S. nuclear concerns, State Department officials say.
Responding to diplomatic reports that Iran is stepping up production of a dual-use gas that could be processed to make nuclear weapons, a Bush administration official said this illustrates why the United States is concerned about Iran's programs.
Despite the latest Iranian pledge to the three European allies, the administration intends to take its case against Iran to the U.N. Security Council for consideration of economic and diplomatic sanctions against Iran.
That would not be until after the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency meets Nov. 25 in Vienna. The U.N. agency is expected to support the Bush administration with criticism of Iran's record of not ending its uranium enrichment program in a verifiable way.
Whether the United States would gain the votes it needs at the United Nations it not clear. Before invading Iraq, the administration did not get the Security Council support it sought.
Already suspicious that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the administration now has intelligence provided by a resistance group that Iran is trying to adapt missiles to deliver them, Powell said Wednesday.
"I have seen some information that would agree that they have been actively working on delivery systems," Powell said en route to an Asia-Pacific economic summit meeting in Chile.
The State Department on Friday declined to say whether Powell was referring to information from the Central Intelligence Agency, which was the source of faulty information that Saddam Hussein had hidden weapons of mass destruction.
Adam Ereli, the department's deputy spokesman, acknowledged Friday that "there are differences of opinion" on whether Iran has a covert nuclear weapons program.
However, he said, "We believe the arguments stack up in our favor. We will continue to press this case."
Ereli said the public should take a broad view of the situation.
"Don't just focus on a uranium enrichment program, on a nuclear plant here or a nuclear plant there," he said. "Look at the totality of the picture. And the picture is you've got undeclared nuclear activity, deliberate misinformation on nuclear activity, development of delivery systems and other technical research that, added all up, paints a very troubling picture."
Iran was one of three countries singled out by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil." He went to war with one, Iraq, and is backing diplomacy to try to halt nuclear weapons programs in a second, North Korea.
His approach to the third, Iran, is only now starting to take shape. It is marked by rising rhetoric.
Joseph Cirincione, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Thursday there was a widespread assumption the Iraq conference next week was the "perfect opportunity" for Powell to negotiate informally with the Iranians.
But Cirincione said in an interview that the United States was not about to give Iran the security guarantees it needs.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association, said the administration must decide whether "it will further complicate or complement" the European allies' effort to pursue a diplomatic solution. "By failing to engage in a dialogue with Iran, the administration is missing a strategic opportunity to exploit the EU (European Union)-Iran opening," Kimball said in an interview.
Cliff Kupchan, vice president of the Nixon Center and an expert on Iran, said, "Both sides are hardening their positions, trying to get leverage before a Dec. 15 meeting of the European allies and the Iranians."
At the meeting, Britain, France and Germany are expected to offer fuel, trade and security guarantees in exchange for a permanent freeze on uranium enrichment.
"The show has not started," Kupchan said Friday in an interview. "The show starts Dec. 15 and Iran is trying to scare the West as the West tries to scare Iran."
Iran.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Boom.
Blair and Bush fined tuned their timing, and coordinated their final plans when Blair was here last week. There's no way those two (and most of those "in the know" in the EU) don't know precisely what the next steps are going to be all all parties involved.
Prairie
all = with
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