Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/12/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=IRAN NUCLEAR

NUMBER=6-12859

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: As if there is not enough tension in the world regarding weapons of mass destruction, with the U-S teetering toward war with Iraq and North Korea flexing its nuclear muscles, now Iran re-enters the picture.

In a new U-N report, Iran has been found to be far ahead of previous estimates in processing weapons grade, enriched uranium. Several U-S papers are taking note of this latest development, and we get a sampling now from V-O-A's ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Time Magazine, quoting International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, reports that Iran's uranium enrichment plant is far more advanced, and in a different location than previously believed.

This latest potential threat to world security did not go unnoticed in the U-S press. However The Los Angeles Times moderates its criticism.

VOICE: For years, the (U-S) unsuccessfully argued with Russia that its construction of a one-thousand megawatt light-water (nuclear) reactor in Bushehr, Iran, would enhance the likelihood of Iran developing atomic weapons.

Last month, a Bush administration official said the Russians had begun to share U-S misgivings. Now, the U-N inspectors' discovery of a fast-advancing uranium enrichment program -- not at Bushehr but at Natanz, near Isfahan in central Iran -- adds an exclamation point to those fears.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and designed just to make electricity. A hard claim to swallow (Editors: slang for "believe") from such an oil and natural gas rich nation. But in contrast with North Korea, which is thought to have one or two atomic weapons and which recently expelled U-N inspectors, Iran invited in the U-N official to ease international concerns about its programs. Russia should understand the dangers of having another nation with nuclear weapons in its neighborhood. As with North Korea, this dilemma should not be left to the United States to solve.

TEXT: The views of The Los Angeles Times.

The latest revelation about nuclear proliferation is also coming under scrutiny in Tennessee where Nashville's Tennessean warns.

VOICE: The United States and the world delayed dealing with North Korea until a problem became a crisis. With that mistake so fresh in memory, it should not be repeated with Iran. What is clear under the surface is Iran's growing sense of entitlement to nuclear weapons. A Washington Post story this week quoted several Iranian officials who expressed the opinion that since Israel, India and Pakistan all have nuclear weapons, Iran should have them as well.

While (Iran's) conservative clerics have had to cede authority to the elected government, the balance of power in Iran is far too unstable to allow the production of nuclear weapons.

TEXT: Editorial misgivings from The Tennessean.

Ohio's Cincinnati Post is also disquieted about revelations of yet another budding nuclear arsenal.

VOICE: The disclosure that Iran is within two years of producing enough enriched uranium for nuclear weapons presents the Bush administration with a problem of a different order of magnitude than North Korea and Iraq. The problem with Iraq is that Saddam Hussein would be willing to use them in pursuit of his dream of a pan-Arab Mideast led by himself.

The problem with North Korea having a nuclear weapon capacity is that it will sell arms indiscriminately in pursuit of cash. What Iran shows, as if the 21st century needs any more problems, is that any country with an industrial base and a certain level of technical expertise can have a nuclear arms capacity if it wants one.

TEXT: Farther West, Denver's (Colorado) Rocky Mountain news suggests that so far Teheran has not violated any international treaties, but the prospect of still more nuclear weapons is worrisome.

VOICE: Even if its intentions are totally peaceful, its enrichment plant will give it the option of building nuclear weapons on relatively short notice. Iran has a young, restless and disaffected population facing a drab future (and) could become an unstable nation, in other words -- hardly the sort of place one would wish to possess nuclear weapons.

TEXT: With those editorial qualms from Denver's Rocky Mountain news, we conclude this editorial sampling of reaction to news of Iran's progress toward nuclear arms.

NEB/ANG/RH