09 March 2006
International Community United Against Iranian Nuclear Threat
State Department officials agree a nuclear-armed Iran would pose serious threat
By David I. McKeeby
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- “Since January, [Iran] has put both feet on the accelerator” to develop its nuclear program but the United States successfully has built a broad and diverse coalition of nations united in getting the Iranian government to roll back its pursuit of nuclear weapons, said Robert Joseph, State Department under secretary for arms control and international security affairs.
Joining Joseph in March 8 testimony before the House International Relations Committee was R. Nicolas Burns, State Department under secretary for political affairs, who said, “The threat posed to the United States by Iran is as great, in our judgment, as any foreign policy challenge that our country faces.”
Joseph and Burns agreed that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a significant threat to its neighbors, particularly Israel, which Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad repeatedly has threatened to “wipe off the map.” (See related article.)
Especially worrying is the prospect of the Iranian regime spreading nuclear weapons to other hostile states or to the numerous terrorist organizations that it funds and supports, they said. (See related article.)
Joseph briefed the committee on evidence gathered by the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that suggests Iran has:
• Begun initial steps to enrich uranium at a pilot plant;
• Announced plans to install more than 3,000 centrifuges for further enrichment activity;
• Produced 85 tons of uranium hexafluoride, an important ingredient to produce highly enriched uranium; and
• Collected information on production of enriched uranium hemispheres, a process used to make only nuclear weapons components.
In addition, the IAEA is investigating suspicious high-explosive tests by Iran and Iranian efforts to design a delivery system, which Joseph said, “clearly point to a military, rather than a civilian, peaceful purpose.”
Burns recounted how, after Iran broke off negotiations with European countries, the United States began meeting with world leaders across Europe and Asia, gradually building support for a vote in the IAEA to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council. (See related article.)
He said that “in the hundreds of conversations that I had with Russians, Chinese, Indians, Europeans, not a single person from any of those governments ever said that they doubted that Iran was trying to seek a nuclear weapons capability.”
Joseph said that, as a result of this consensus, “in the past 12 months, the most significant achievement of American foreign policy towards Iran has been to broaden the group of countries who are standing with us.” He added that the Iranian government continued uranium enrichment activity, and its recent dismissal of Russia’s offer to provide it with the fuel needed for its nuclear energy needs, are additional reasons why the international community should remain skeptical of Iran’s intentions.
Burns predicted that the U.N. Security Council’s debate about Iran’s nuclear ambitions “will be designed to shine a very large and intensive spotlight on what we believe will be a clear Iranian [nuclear] program.” (See related article.)
If Iran still refuses to change its course, Burns said, the “world community should entertain the possibility of sanctions against Iran.”
Joseph agreed. “It is imperative that the council make clear to the Iranian regime that there will be significant, negative consequences if it does not step away from its nuclear ambitions,” he said.
“The president has emphasized that all options are on the table to deal with this threat, but that our strong preference is to do so through effective diplomacy,” Joseph added.
The prepared testimony of under secretaries Joseph and Burns are available on the State Department Web site.
For additional information on U.S. policy, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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