or I won't do whatever it is you need me to do!"
Posted on 01/17/2006 11:21:28 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
MOSCOW (AP) -
Russia's foreign minister indicated Tuesday that Moscow was not ready to support moves by the U.S. and its European allies to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, while the West stepped up pressure on Tehran.
Key European countries have begun work on a resolution that asks member countries of the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, and the United States is lobbying board members to vote for the measure early next month, a diplomat told The Associated Press.
A draft text that was read to AP by a European diplomat accredited to the Vienna, Austria-based U.N. nuclear watchdog agency stopped short of the calls for sanctions sought by Washington and some of its closest backers.
Instead, it urges the 15-nation Security Council to press Tehran "to extend full and prompt cooperation to the agency" in its more than three-year investigation of suspect nuclear activities.
It also asks the council to make clear to Iran "that additional transparency measures are indispensable" if it hopes to prove that it does not want to make nuclear weapons. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was confidential.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, warned that Israel cannot allow countries with "hostile intentions" to acquire weapons of mass destruction, a clear reference to Iran, and top Israeli security experts headed to Russia to seek support against suspected Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
A recent spate of sharp anti-Israeli comments by Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have helped to fuel anxiety over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The wording of the draft text of the resolution was sure to change before it is submitted to the IAEA's 35-nation board Feb. 2. Still the fact that it was calling on the council to send Iran's nuclear file back to the IAEA appeared to be the latest indication that Tehran would escape sanctions.
Despite the ongoing work on the draft, it was unclear whether the board would even agree on referral or stop short because of opposition by Russia and China.
Moscow backs calls on Iran to renew a moratorium on uranium enrichment, a possible pathway to nuclear arms. But asked whether Russia would be ready to refer Iran to the Security Council for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that other means should be considered first.
"I don't think that the potential of the IAEA's Governing Board has been exhausted and the European troika has the same opinion," he said, alluding to France, Britain and Germany, which have called for the special board meeting to consider referral.
China's Foreign Ministry also took a cautious tone Monday, saying "all relevant sides should remain restrained and stick to solving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations."
The Iranian Embassy in Moscow issued a statement calling on the European Union to return to negotiations but warning next month's IAEA session would lead to a new impasse.
"Refusal to hold talks, convening a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors and other methods of applying pressure and threats will not only fail to help settle problems, but will bring the diplomatic process based on mutual understanding and cooperation into deadlock," the statement said.
Lavrov said Iran could not hope to resume talks with the European Union unless it returns to the uranium enrichment moratorium it broke this month.
"I fully support the call for the resumption of talks, but in reality it can be done only on condition of (continuing) the enrichment moratorium, which is mutually acceptable," Lavrov said.
He said all nations involved should keep nonproliferation as their main goal.
"Sanctions are not the best or the only way to solve international problems," Lavrov said. "Our common efforts should be aimed at getting answers to all the questions, without exception, which were posed by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency."
Lavrov said that raising the prospect of sanctions was tantamount to "putting the cart before the horse."
"Our common goal is to ensure the inviolability of the nuclear nonproliferation regime," he said. "If we all strive for this main goal, we will be able to find a collective approach to solving this issue."
He warned against letting "momentary political considerations" get mixed up with the Iranian nuclear issue.
Both Russia and China are IAEA board opinion leaders whose voice counts with other nations. And both are veto-wielding members of the Security Council that could vote down harsh action against Tehran - including economic sanctions, an option backed by the U.S.
European nations have been willing to back away in the past from referral in hopes that Tehran's defiance of international pressure meant to end concerns about its nuclear ambitions would swing Moscow and Beijing behind growing consensus on the need to haul the Islamic republic before the council.
Although a key backer of sanctions, the United States has thrown its weight behind the Europeans in hopes that time would work on its behalf in hardening anti-Iran sentiment.
Britain remains convinced Iran should be brought before the Security Council, a senior foreign office official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the negotiations.
Iran on Monday praised a compromise proposal by President Vladimir Putin to conduct Iranian uranium enrichment in Russia, which would allow greater international oversight of Tehran's nuclear program and possibly a referral. Lavrov said negotiations with Iran on the initiative would take place in Russia around Feb. 16.
But Britain questioned Tehran's sincerity and said London maintained its stance on the need for Security Council action.
"Our own assessment is the Iranians are playing with the Russian proposal for tactical reasons," the official said.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told lawmakers in Paris that a united stance on Iran is needed and "there is no civil nuclear program that could justify these dangerous nuclear activities."
In a Jan. 12 letter to other board nation members that was made available Tuesday to AP, Washington's chief delegate to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, urged them "to vote affirmatively to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council."
The path for referral has been laid by an IAEA resolution passed in September. It found Iran in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for nearly two decades of clandestine nuclear activity that included black-market procurements and experiments that could be used for weapons.
That resolution implied that Tehran's defiance of calls to freeze enrichment would be the "trigger" for Security Council involvement - a condition fulfilled by Iran's resumption of enrichment, a possible path to nuclear weapons, earlier this month.
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Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Beth Gardiner in London contributed to this story.
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Russia has huge economic interests at stake in this process....this is not a surprise.
Why would Iran comply when it has the support of China and Russia?
Here we go again.
No doubt the UN would have been powerless to stop Hitler as well ...
I guess the Russia expert at the WH is to busy running focus groups on whether she should run for President in 2008.
Russia should be told in no uncertain terms that if it wants to remain a member of the G8 economic club, that it had better shape up and get with the program against the axis of evil.
Give putin and option, either moscow or tehran.
Russia, always trying to play both sides against the middle...they're going to end up getting nuked by their own intiatives.
Russia no longer needs to be a paranoic nation state. So, they should stop acting like one. IMHO.
or I won't do whatever it is you need me to do!"
I'm shocked I tell ya! Shocked! lol
Oh let the games begin - :)
Even if it goes to the UNSC all the little pee-on states will say - "No, but if you give me this or that I might vote with you" game. The UNSC is a farce in its own right. Lets see if it even gets there. Those like Russia and China will over ride the real question "Iran violation of the nuclear prolifferation ban" with their personal economic interest. So the question of if it even gets to the next level in this big farce stands to be seen.
Red6
Of course.
Rice is wasting our time.
The only solution is force.
An amazingly stupid thing to say. Guess in the future you might want to actually find out some facts before posting.
You think you have the votes in the US Congress for this?????
And some folks continue to insist Putin isn't an enemy of this nation.
no really
Looks like they are striving to be a shadow of their former relevance.
Evidently the terror attacks on Beslan have meant nothing at all to Putin.
I've said before, and I'll say again, Abadabbajad will have nuclear weapons before next Christmas.
For all the blather about the Russians, Chinese, Europeans being on board - none of them are any more on board with us vis a vis Iran than they were Iraq. Just more time wasting, dancing by all of them until the Iranians are ready to do whatever it is they plan to do besides make noise and make $.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The Coming of the Bomb
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Readers may want to download and read Getting Ready For A Nuclear-Ready Iran, from the US Army War College. It's a wide ranging discussion of the entire Iranian nuclear weapons issue set within the larger context of nonproliferation strategy. The basic premise is that it probably impossible for the US to stop an Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, short of a full-scale invasion. And once Iran acquires nuclear weapons it will simply be a matter of time before Arab states follow.
Yet, the truth is that Iran soon can and will get a bomb option. All Iranian engineers need is a bit more time 1 to 4 years at most. No other major gaps remain: Iran has the requisite equipment to make the weapons fuel, the know-how to assemble the bombs, and the missile and naval systems necessary to deliver them beyond its borders. ... As for eliminating Iran’s nuclear capabilities militarily, the United States and Israel lack sufficient targeting intelligence to do this. In fact, Iran long has had considerable success in concealing its nuclear activities from U.S. intelligence analysts and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. (The latter recently warned against assuming the IAEA could find all of Iran’s illicit uranium enrichment activities). As it is, Iran already could have hidden all it needs to reconstitute a bomb program, assuming its known declared nuclear plants were hit. ...
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See link for the rest of wretchard's comments.......
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