Posted on 04/18/2006 9:46:37 AM PDT by areafiftyone
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Bush refused on Tuesday to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, told world powers it would pursue atomic technology, whatever they decide at a meeting in Moscow later in the day.
Bush said in Washington he would discuss Iran's nuclear activities with China's President Hu Jintao this week and avoided ruling out nuclear retaliation if diplomatic efforts fail.
Asked if options included planning for a nuclear strike, Bush replied: "All options are on the table. We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we're working hard to do so."
Speculation about a U.S. attack has mounted since a report in New Yorker magazine said this month that Washington was mulling the option of using tactical nuclear weapons to knock out Iran's subterranean nuclear sites.
The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking atom bombs, was expected to push for targeted sanctions against Tehran when it meets the U.N. Security Council's other permanent members -- Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany in Moscow.
Russia and China oppose sanctions and the use of force.
Deputy foreign ministers from the six nations are meeting ahead of an end-April deadline for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on whether Iran is complying with U.N. demands that it halt uranium enrichment.
"I recommend that they do not make hasty decisions, be prudent and study their path in the past. Any time they have pressured Iran they have got adverse results," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"Whatever the result of this meeting might be, Iran will not abandon its rights (to nuclear technology)," he added later.
Iran defied U.N. demands by declaring last week it had enriched uranium to a level used in power stations and was aiming for industrial-scale production, ratcheting up tensions and sending oil prices to record highs above $72 a barrel.
The United States, which already enforces its own sweeping sanctions on Iran, wants the Security Council to be ready to take strong diplomatic action, including so-called targeted measures such as a freeze on assets and visa curbs.
Washington says it does not want to embargo Iran's oil and gas industries to avoid creating hardship for the Iranian people. Iran is the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter.
CHINA, RUSSIA OPPOSE SANCTIONS
China, which sent an envoy to Iran on Friday to try to defuse the standoff, repeated a call for a negotiated solution.
"We hope all sides will maintain restraint and flexibility," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.
Russia restated its opposition to punitive action. "We are convinced that neither the sanctions route nor the use of force route will lead to a solution of this problem," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Israel's Jerusalem Post the United States probably could not destroy Iran's nuclear program but could attempt to set it back by strikes as a last resort.
"I think the only justifiable use of military power would be an attempt to deter the development of their nuclear program if we felt there was no other way to do it," he said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at an annual military parade, said the army was ready to defend the nation.
"It will cut off the hands of any aggressors and will make any aggressor regret it," Ahmadinejad declared.
In Kuwait, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said he doubted the Americans would use force. "It is unlikely that they would enter into such a perilous situation from which they cannot come out."
Iran says it will not drop its right to enrich uranium for peaceful use but that it will work with the IAEA.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says it has been unable to verify that Iran's nuclear program is purely civilian, but has found no hard proof of efforts to build atomic weapons.
IAEA inspectors are due in Iran on Friday to visit nuclear sites, including one at Natanz where Iran says it has enriched uranium to 3.5 percent, the level used in nuclear power plants.
IRNA news agency said Olli Heinonen, ElBaradei's deputy for safeguards issues, would lead the team. One diplomat said his presence suggested Iran might provide some missing information.
Experts say it would take Iran years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb from its current 164 centrifuges. But Iran says it will to install 3,000 centrifuges, which could make enough material for a warhead in one year.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Alireza Ronaghi in Tehran, Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow, Mark Heinrich in Vienna)
I don't exclude using dynamite to kill a scorpion, if it becomes necessary. I'll try using my well-booted foot, first, though.
Ronald Reagan imposed a news blackout on the 7th Fleet and all information regarding it.
The terrorist blinked, because they did not know ahead of time what was going to happen next.
Just let the Iranians know that ANYTHING could happen.
Give 'em nucs.
Land a nuc using advanced soft landing technology developed by the space program. Do it at night so that in the morning all major municipalities, (probably 10 will get the message accross) in Iran would have a nuc sitting in their town square.
The device will have a perimeter warning device and a sound system that will announce that the nucs have been provided courtesy of the USofA. It is recommended that a fence be erected at least 10 meters from the nuc. Should anyone approach within 5 meters of the device it will detonate and and the guilt will lie with the Iranians!!
Bush is just playing a little Texas Hold Em with Amejedad (sp?). Republican presidents can do a bluff. The media getting all bent out of shape actually helps his 'poker face.'
The Muslims should build their nukes in Mecca since Bush already said he'd never nuke it.
No nukes goddammit!
The idea appears to be playing pat-a-cake with Iran until crude hits at least $100.
Hey. Freekin calm down. What are you talking about?
this issue confuses me...Iran are clearly not hiding from their nuclear operation which they claim legitimate...so therefore 2 scenarios are offered :
1- They are clearly starting a war knowing the americans will bite...so i am wondering what surprise they have behind their head for your country...
2- they want to challenge their own freedom, as they are playing within the rules, not hiding from the fact they are producing nuclear stuff...knowing that an innofencive percentage of enrichment exists and can be tested...
if they enriched the uranium and it becomes plutonium thank i don't see why we wouldn't declare them war, but would still need to stay careful because when you underestimate your ennemy, that is when disaster happens...
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