Foreign Correspondence

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US-Iran row heats up

The Bush administration has clearly decided to try to 'manage' Iraq and 'finesse' Iran, hoping to muddle through until the election and then, if victorious, consider its options in the broader theater. The president and his top advisers evidently want to avoid 'new adventures' between now and November.

I take this to mean after Bush is reelected he will consider a broader array of ways in which to deal with Iran, including war. Bush and his advisors want to avoid ‘new adventures’ including regional and world wars until after November. Then attacking Iran is an option. This will be a much more devastating war for the United States in terms of casualties, human and economic.

US-Iran row heats up

posted June 16, 2004, updated 1:10 p.m.

US accuses Iran of intimidating UN ahead of vote on resolution critical of Iran's nuclear cooperation.

by Matthew Clark / csmonitor.com


While the US media focused on fresh violence in Iraq ahead of the June 30 power transfer and the capture of an American contractor by militants in Saudi Arabia, the smoldering row between the US and Iran intensified Wednesday.
US diplomat Kenneth Brill accused Iran - one of the three members in the Bush administration's "Axis of Evil" - of bullying diplomats in order to relieve international pressure on Iran to cooperate more with UN nuclear weapons inspectors.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear facilities are purely to create energy, and denies that it is developing nuclear weapons.

Mr. Brill said: "This full-blown effort to try to change the direction of the [International Atomic Energy Agency] board through public and private intimidation suggests Iran has something to hide. ... People who are trying to produce electricity for light bulbs don't engage in this kind of behavior."






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A Voice of America editorial, representing the views of the US government, states that "Iran, with its vast oil and gas resources, has little need for nuclear energy."

This comes on the heels of Iran's angry reaction to unusually candid comments by IAEA's director general Mohammed ElBaradei, who said Monday that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA had been "less than satisfactory" and that the probe "can't go on forever."

On Tuesday, IAEA members Britain, France, and Germany drafted what The Associated Press calls "a toughly worded resolution" that "lacked a direct threat of sanctions but did keep pressure on Iran to come clean on aspects of its 20-year covert nuclear program that was discovered two years ago."


"If this resolution passes, Iran will have no moral commitment to suspend uranium enrichment," Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said. "The IAEA resolution is very bad... [it] violates our country's rights. ... If it passes, in the future we will have more problems with co-operating with the agency."

The Tehran Times reports that the secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Reza'i, warned Tuesday that Britain, France, and Germany would be making a serious mistake if they do not soften the resolution.

A dark point will forever remain in the history of Iran's relations with these countries if Europeans do not revise their proposed draft resolution and make amendments. ... Europeans must not confront Iranians and must not behave in a way as to reinforce the impression that Europe and the US are pursuing a continued dissension in the region and that they are seeking to open a new chapter of animosity.

Hundreds of hardline Islamic protesters gathered at two Iranian nuclear plants Wednesday, saying they would defend with their lives Iran's right to develop nuclear technology, reports Reuters AlertNet, citing Iran's official IRNA news agency.

The AP reports that the draft reprimands Iran for delaying an investigation, but does not include direct threats of sanctions. The BBC reports that officials in Tehran argue that they have met all the commitments, and claim Britain, France, and Germany are pushing the latest resolution because of US pressure. The US has been pushing for the IAEA to report Iran's alleged stonewalling to the UN Security Council, which may lead to formal sanctions.

Yet some pundits in the US, like long-time Iran critic Michael Ledeen, feel that Washington needs to take a much stronger line against the regime in Tehran.

The Bush administration has clearly decided to try to 'manage' Iraq and 'finesse' Iran, hoping to muddle through until the election and then, if victorious, consider its options in the broader theater. The president and his top advisers evidently want to avoid 'new adventures' between now and November.

But this is a very dangerous strategy, because it leaves the initiative, in Iraq and elsewhere, entirely in the hands of people like [suspected Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi] and his longtime Iranian sponsors. Indeed, it seems to me that doing nothing is an open invitation to 'new adventures' in the Middle East, in Europe, and in the United States.

AP reports that diplomats of some of the 35 nations at the IAEA meeting said the draft resolution would likely be formally accepted later this week.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0616/dailyUpdate.html