WASHINGTON, Dec 14, (Agencies): The United States appears headed on a collision course with Iran that could lead to a war with ‘disastrous” consequences, a former advisor to ex-president Jimmy Carter has warned.
“We think we are going to avoid war by moving towards compulsion,” Zbignew Brzezinski, who was national security advisor to Carter in the late 1970s, told an audience at an Atlantic Council think tank event in Washington late Tuesday.
“But the more you lean towards compulsion, the more the choice becomes war if it doesn’t work. That narrows our options in a very dramatic way,” said the former official, who remains an influential voice on US foreign policy.
Brzezinski said he was concerned about an escalation in “rhetoric,” as the US approach to Iran’s nuclear program appeared solely focused on forcing Tehran to comply with international demands, leaving Washington little flexibility.
“A lot of small decisions are being made which in the meantime narrow your freedom of choice in the future,” he said.
Tuesday’s gathering featured four former national security advisors, including president Richard Nixon’s powerful deputy Henry Kissinger.
Brzezinski warned repeatedly of his concerns that the United States could stumble into a war with Iran.
“If we slide into a conflict with Iran, in this or that fashion, the consequences for us will be disastrous, disastrous on a massive scale and also globally at the same time,” he said.
Brzezinski was in office in 1979 when America’s ally, the Shah of Iran, fell from power in a revolution that resulted in an Islamic theocracy in Tehran.
After the seizure of the US embassy in Iran and the taking of American hostages that same year, Brzezinski presided over a plan to rescue the captives but the military operation failed before it got off the ground.
Tensions have grown between Iran and the United States in recent months as Washington has pushed for stricter sanctions to punish Tehran over its nuclear activities and amid speculation Israel may be weighing possible pre-emptive military action.
Sanctions
Meanwhile, the United States hit two senior Iranian military officials with travel and financial sanctions Tuesday and moved closer to a compromise with Congress over tough new sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank that Washington worries could have unintended consequences.
Citing their roles in alleged human rights abuses, the Treasury Department added the chairman of Iran’s joint chiefs of staff, the country’s most senior military officer, and the deputy commander of the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to a US blacklist. The move freezes any assets they may have in the US, although it is unlikely they have any such assets, and bars Americans from doing business with them. The State Department also barred the two men from entering the United States.
“The Iranian people have suffered tremendously at the hands of senior officials, who instead of protecting their basic rights have ordered and orchestrated widespread, serious human rights abuses aimed at silencing criticism and punishing dissent,” said Adam J. Szubin, the Treasury Department’s director of foreign assets control.
Hassan Firouzabadi, the joint chiefs chairman, and Abdollah Araqi were accused of wrongdoing in the crackdown on protesters and mistreatment of detainees after Iran’s disputed 2009 elections. The sanctions may have little direct effect since the US and Iran have no military ties and few financial or commercial ones.
But the administration appeared to be moving closer to endorsing legislation that could hurt Iran far more.
Congress pressed ahead Monday evening with a massive $662 billion defense bill that includes an amendment directing the administration to target foreign financial institutions that do business with the Iranian Central Bank in Tehran. The pressure comes amid heightened concern over Iran’s nuclear program and links to alleged terrorist plots.
Havoc
Administration officials had expressed concern that Congress’ approach could drive up oil prices and cause havoc to world markets. Higher prices might also boost the value of Iranian oil sales, which amount to more than half of the Iranian government’s revenue. That would defeat the point of the sanctions by allowing the Iranian government to increase its investments in uranium enrichment or other destabilizing activity, they had argued.
In other news, Iran could soon launch sensitive atomic activities in an underground facility deep inside a mountain, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday, a development likely to add to tension between Tehran and the West.
Iranian experts have carried out the necessary preparations at Fordow near the holy city of Qom, paving the way for the Islamic state to begin higher-grade uranium enrichment at the site on a former military base.
The machines, equipment and nuclear material needed have been transferred and installed at Fordow, the sources added, suggesting the work itself — until now conducted above ground at another location — could start when Iran takes the decision.
It coincides with a period of escalating tension between Western powers and Iran after a UN nuclear watchdog report last month said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon, and that secret research may continue.
The United States and its European allies have seized on the unprecedented document by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ratchet up the sanctions pressure on Iran, one of the world’s largest oil producers.
Enriched uranium can be used to fuel power plants, which is Iran’s stated aim, or provide material for atomic bombs if processed much further, which the West suspects is the country’s ultimate intention.
Proliferation expert Shannon Kile noted that Iran earlier this year announced it would shift its most sensitive enrichment activity to Fordow but that the actual start would still be significant.
Elsewhere, Iran dismissed intimidating remarks by its own officials against Turkey saying Tehran would target NATO’s missile shield in its neighbour if threatened, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.
“We reject those views completely,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told Anatolia in an interview, adding that those who had made the irresponsible statements had been warned.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s official stance on Turkey is based on deep brotherhood and friendship,” he said, adding that only Iran’s supreme leader, president and foreign minister were able to pronounce on Iran’s official attitude on international matters and foreign policy.
“Other statements are considered personal views,” he said.
In November, the commander of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would target NATO’s missile shield in neighbouring Turkey’s southern Malatya province if it were threatened by military action.
“We are prepared to first target the NATO defence missile shield in Turkey if we are threatened. And then we’ll move on to other targets,” Amir-Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.
In related news, Iran held talks with Saudi Arabia to try to convince Riyadh it had nothing to do with unfounded US claims of a plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington, Tehran said according to media on Wednesday.
Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday to clear up “misunderstandings” created by the US allegations, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a report by ISNA news agency.
“One of the issues which is of great importance is regional security issues — plots and schemes aimed at endangering relations and cooperation between regional states,” Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.
“America has thrown some allegations at Iran which must be exposed as baseless and unfounded through clear and direct negotiations and to remove suspicions,” he said.
The US claims — that Iranian officials were involved in using an Iranian-American car salesman to hire a Mexican drug gang to blow up the Saudi ambassador — “targeted the security and interests of both Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“These scenarios seek to ensure the interests of the Zionist regime (Israel),” Mehmanparast said.