FOX ON THE RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN September 19, 2003
Interview With globalsecurity.org's John Pike
DHUE: Last month, Britain, Germany, and France made an offer to Iran and the Bush administration wasn't too wild about it. The European trio offered Iran the prospect of sharing technology if it stops its disputed nuclear fuel-enrichment program and accepts tougher U.N. sanctions.
A senior official tells Fox that letter is a non-issue. It has now been superseded by an ultimatum that was issued by the IAEA just a few days ago.
Joining us now in Washington is one of the world's leading defense and intelligence experts, John Pike, the director of globalsecurity.org.
John, good to see you. Thanks for coming in tonight.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: Good to see you.
DHUE: Let's begin with the ultimatum. The IAEA says that Iran has until the end of the month, October 31, to provide more information to inspectors. They must give a full declaration.
John, do we know exactly what Iran has to declare?
PIKE: Well, we certainly know some of the things that they have to declare. We know that they have a power reactor supposedly to produce electricity at Bushehr on the coast.
We also know that they have a uranium-enrichment program and that they also have the beginnings of a program that would enable them to build a new reactor, an additional reactor, to produce plutonium.
They also have some other facilities in and around Tehran that are apparently part of the prototypes for all of this.
DHUE: You said you think Iran has decided to get the bomb as soon as they can. It's frightening to hear that but maybe not surprising. What leads you to that conclusion?
PIKE: Well, if you look at the diversity of facilities that they're building, this is the sort of thing that we've seen with the Pakistans' nuclear weapons program and with North Korea's nuclear weapons program. And, indeed, these three countries have been cooperating in the missile field and, apparently, also cooperating in the nuclear arena.
If North Korea and Pakistan are building these facilities to get the bomb, it only stands to reason that Iran is doing the same thing.
DHUE: Well, Iran is one-third of President Bush's axis of evil. Is there any reason to trust that they will make the deadline? What if they decide to blow it off?
PIKE: Well, they've already -- their Friday prayer leader, the chair of the Guardian Council, which is one of the leading clerical elements of Iran's government, has already said forget about accepting additional restrictions. Maybe we should just withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty altogether the way North Korea has.
DHUE: OK. Let's get to the letter that we mentioned at the top of the segment, which offered Iran the prospect of sharing technology. Are the French and Germans in the U.K. snubbing President Bush and putting us in danger by sending such a letter?
PIKE: Well, what I hope they're trying to do is test Iran's intentions, and that's what this October 31 deadline is about as well, to test their intentions.
If Iran is simply trying to get electricity from nuclear power the way France does, then they will accept that deadline and might even accept this deal -- the details of which we don't know -- that has been proposed by the Europeans.
On the other hand, if Iran says no to the proposed deal, if they say no to the inspectors, then I think that that's going to convince some skeptical people that they're going after the bomb.
DHUE: Are we looking after another Iraq?
PIKE: Well, no. Actually, it's a lot worse than that because Iran...
DHUE: Oh, great.
PIKE: Well, because Iran is all of the things that the Bush administration was claiming Iraq was but now is having difficulty backing up.
Iran is certainly in possession of chemical weapons, of long-range missiles, apparently a year or two, a few years away from having an atomic bomb. They are certainly sponsoring terrorism, supporting the Palestinian uprising just to name a few.
So I think that if you look at the case that the Bush administration made against Iraq, the same case with much more evidence, with much more validity to be made against Iran.
DHUE: Final question for you, John. You say that there's a theory out there that Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea are in cahoots, that Pakistan and North Korea have the expertise and Iran has the money. In the 30 seconds that we have left, tell us more about that.
PIKE: The missile program that the three countries are working on is basically the same missile design. Even to look at a brief video clip, that's clearly the case.
The route that Pakistan took to get the atomic bomb, both plutonium and uranium, we're seeing the same thing going on with North Korea, seeing the same thing going on with Iran.
DHUE: Where did they get the money?
PIKE: Well, Iran has a lot of oil and a lot of very thirsty customers. It also looks like possibly Saudi Arabia was helping finance Pakistan's program.
DHUE: Oh, the Saudis again. All right. But that's a whole other discussion.
PIKE: Yes.
DHUE: We'll have you back to talk about that. John Pike with globalsecurity.org, thank you as always.
PIKE: Thank you.
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