19 June 2003
Bush Welcomes IAEA Statement on Iran's Nuclear Program
(White House Report, June 19: Iran, Wolcott Sanders Nomination) (550) The White House welcomed a June 19 statement by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) asking Iran to allow further inspections of its reactor sites. The IAEA statement is "international reinforcement of the president's message yesterday that the world, broadly speaking, joins together in fighting proliferation and making certain that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons," said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. He spoke to reporters on Force One June 19 as they accompanied President Bush on a day trip to Minnesota. The IAEA board encouraged Iran not to introduce nuclear material at its pilot enrichment plant, as a confidence building measure, Fleischer said, and called on Iran to permit the IAEA to take environmental samples at locations inside Iran, and "to ratify an additional protocol making certain that Iran is acting in a way that provides assurances to the international community of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities." Iran "needs to comply" with the IAEA, Fleischer said. If it does not comply, "the world will conclude that Iran may be producing nuclear weapons," Fleischer said. "If the Iranians are pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, as they claim they are, then they have every reason to comply with the IAEA's request, particularly the two specific requests to take the environmental sample and to sign the additional protocol," Fleischer said. "And as the President said, we -- which is an expression representing the international community -- will not tolerate Iranian development of nuclear weaponry, which is exactly what the IAEA report is all about," Fleischer said. Asked if military action is an option, Fleischer said "that as a broad matter of policy that applies around the globe, the President does not take options off the table." Asked if the verbal support by the United States for democracy in Iran is enough, Fleischer said "The president's hope is that the future of Iran will be decided by the Iranian people. There is a tremendous young population in Iran that is yearning for a better way of life and a more tolerant way of life. That's where the president is focused." Fleischer added that "history has shown, and there are many recent examples of it in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union, that when the President of the United States speaks out with moral clarity and urges governments to engage in openness and tolerance, and to welcome dissent and democracy, it has a profound impact. And it's a message that is well received by people who yearn for freedom. "That's not to make light of it, that's an important action that American Presidents have taken in the past, and that this President has taken today," the Press Secretary said. WHITE HOUSE SENDS TO SENATE NOMINATION OF JACKIE WOLCOTT SANDERS The White House June 19 sent to the Senate for confirmation President Bush's nomination of Jackie Wolcott Sanders of Virginia, for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as United States Representatives to the Conference on Disarmament and the Special Representative of the President of the United States for Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. She currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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