WASHINGTON, Feb 17, (Agencies): Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that Iran is enriching uranium in a disputed nuclear program but that Tehran has not made a decision on whether to proceed with development of an atomic bomb.
Fears of a nuclear-armed Iran produced tough talk from Panetta and the nation’s top intelligence officials, all of whom offered insights and observations on the secretive regime in separate congressional hearings. Their testimony came amid increasing international fears of a Mideast conflagration as Iran boasted of major advances in producing nuclear fuel and threatened an oil embargo in retaliation for economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Israel has accused Iran of being behind recent attacks on its diplomats in Thailand, Georgia and India and has threatened military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. This isn’t just about containment. We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,” Panetta told the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee. “We will not allow Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz. And in addition to that, obviously, we have expressed serious concerns to Iran about the spread of violence and the fact that they continue to support terrorism and they continue to try to undermine other countries.”
The Pentagon chief delivered President Barack Obama’s oft-repeated statement that “we do keep all options on the table.”
Panetta, the former CIA director, said US intelligence shows that Iran is continuing its uranium enrichment program. “But the intelligence does not show that they’ve made the decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon. That is the red line that would concern us and that would ensure that the international community, hopefully together, would respond,” he said.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the decision on a nuclear weapon would be made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, raising questions about the role of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the process.
“He (Khamenei) would base that on a cost-benefit analysis in terms of, I don’t think he’d want a nuclear weapon at any price,” Clapper said. “So that I think plays to the value of sanctions, particularly the recent ratcheting up of more sanctions and anticipation that that will induce a change in their policy and behavior.”
Clapper said it is “technically feasible” that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon in one or two years, if its leaders decide to build one, “but practically not likely.”
The Obama administration recently imposed sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank, the latest round of penalties that have widespread bipartisan support in Congress. The Treasury Department announced Thursday that it was slapping sanctions on Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security, asserting that it supports global terrorism, commits human rights abuses against Iranians and participates in ongoing repression in Syria.
The first round of penalties on the Central Bank go into effect Feb 29, and would prohibit any foreign financial institution from conducting business in the United States if Obama concludes that it has conducted or facilitated a significant financial transaction with the Central Bank or other sanctioned Iranian financial institutions.
Sen Bob Menendez, a Democrat and a chief sponsor of the sanctions, met with David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, and said the administration is eager to press ahead despite reservations last year that the penalties could drive up oil prices and benefit Iran’s economy.
“I have no sense that they’re looking to get an extension,” Menendez said in an interview. “The administration shares with us that this is our best hope of deterring Iranian action and their march to nuclear weapons.”
Panetta and lawmakers insist the sanctions are taking an economic toll on Iran, reflected in their erratic response. But Israel is not speaking with one voice on the issue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sanctions have not yet been effective; his defense minister and vice premier said the penalties are strong and have the Iranians panicking.
Worried
Meanwhile, the US government is worried that Iran will consider a terror attack on American soil, but it has no specific or credible threat about such a plot. Police from Los Angeles to New York City said they were anxious about the risks, even as a senior US intelligence official reassured Congress that it was unlikely Iran would attack.
Law enforcement officials are keeping an eye out for potential Iranian operatives or anyone with links to the country’s proxy terrorist group, Hezbollah, as tensions escalate amid bombings overseas and tough talk from Iran’s government about its nuclear energy program.
Los Angeles, which has one of the largest Iranian communities outside Iran, has moved potential Iranian threats to the top of its intelligence briefings over the past few weeks. The New York Police Department said it assumes Iran would attack the city, with its especially large Jewish population.
“The attacks overseas raises everybody’s anxiety level a little bit,” said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s counterterrorism and special operations bureau. In recent weeks, Iran has been blamed for bombings in India, Georgia and Thailand. “It’s been at the forefront,” Downing said.
Iran has accused Israel, its longtime adversary, of killing some of its nuclear scientists, while Israel has warned of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear energy program over concerns it could lead to development of a nuclear bomb.
Amid the tensions, Los Angeles increased its outreach to Iranian and Jewish communities, assuring them there is no reason to be paranoid or overly anxious, Downing said in an interview.
The chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, Republican Rep Peter King said Hezbollah and Iran are capable of attacking inside the US. King said he received two intelligence briefs on the Iranian threat in the past two weeks.
“We know they’re here, mainly facilitators and fundraisers, that type of thing,” King said. “How quickly they could be activated, what others there are here, that’s the unknown.”
Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that nuclear-armed nations were not superior to others, a day after his sanctions-hit government told world powers it was ready to resume stalled atomic talks.
“(The) nuclear bomb is not going to bring about superiority,” he told a joint news conference with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in Islamabad, addressing the predominantly English-speaking audience through a translator.
The United States and other Western powers accuse Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb, but Tehran insists its atomic activities are for energy needs.
Iran told world powers it is ready to resume stalled nuclear talks at the earliest opportunity as long as they respect its right to peaceful atomic energy, according to a letter seen by AFP on Thursday.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, made the offer to EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton, who represents the United States, France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia in the talks.
On Friday, Ahmadinejad said Iran’s relationship with nuclear-armed Pakistan was an example of an alliance that “is not because of nuclear bomb or weapons.”
“The foundation of our political relationship is humanitarian and is based on common cultural values,” he said.
“Promoting peace and fraternity are the common goals of the three countries and our nations. We have got hopes to a victory in future,” he said.
Crucial
In Brussels, an international banking clearinghouse crucial to Iran’s oil sales said Friday that it is prepared to discontinue services to Iranian financial institutions targeted by EU and US sanctions.
The statement by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as SWIFT, comes as the Obama administration is pushing for Iran to be evicted from the Brussels-based hub.
The clearinghouse said it stands ready to stop services to sanctioned Iranian financial institutions once it has clarity on what will be required by laws. It added that the decision “reflects the extraordinary and highly exceptional circumstances of significant multi-lateral international support for the intensification of sanctions against Iran.”
Getting Iran ousted from SWIFT would leapfrog the current slow-pressure campaign of sanctions aimed at persuading Iran to drop what the US and its allies contend is a drive toward developing and building nuclear weapons. It also perhaps would buy time for the US to persuade Israel not to launch a pre-emptive military strike on Iran this spring.
But such a penalty could send oil prices soaring when many of the world’s economies are still frail. It also could hurt ordinary Iranians and undercut the reputation of SWIFT.
SWIFT said Friday that US and EU efforts to ramp up the pressure on Iran could affect its ability to provide services to Iranian clients.
Although SWIFT, a Brussels-based hub used by virtually every nation in the world, said it “understand(s) that the European Union is now drafting new international sanctions regulations which directly affect” its ability to provide services to Iranian financial institutions, an EU official said the bloc was not preparing new sanctions on Iran.
“What we’re working on is implementing the measures we adopted last month,” said the official who could not be identified under standing rules.
SWIFT, which is used by virtually every nation in the world, noted that it also is following the progress of a bill passed by the US Senate Banking Committee regarding Iran which has similar intention of curbing institutions such as itself to provide services to Iranian financial organizations.
More than 40 Iranian banks and institutions use SWIFT to process financial transactions, and losing access to that flow of international funds could badly damage the Islamic republic’s economy. It would also probably hurt average Iranians more than the welter of existing banking sanctions already in place since prices for household goods would rise while the value of Iranian currency would drop.
Optimism
Meanwhile, the United States and European Union on Friday expressed cautious optimism that Iran is serious about returning to talks with world powers over its nuclear program.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they were continuing to study Iran’s response to a proposal to restart the stalled negotiations. They said, however, that they welcomed Iran’s professed willingness to hold talks as soon as possible without preconditions.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Ashton at the State Department, Clinton said the Iranian reply was “one we have been waiting for.” But, she stressed that “if we do proceed, it will have to be a sustained effort that will produce results.”
“We must be assured that if we make a decision to go forward, we see a sustained effort by Iran to come to the table to work until we have reached an outcome that has Iran coming back into compliance with their international obligations,” Clinton said. “We’re evaluating all of these factors. But I think it’s fair to say ... that we think this is an important step and we welcome the letter.”
Ashton said she was “cautious” but “optimistic” that talks could resume.
“I think it is good to see that the letter has arrived and there is a potential possibility that Iran may be willing to resume talks,” she said.
Clinton and Ashton were referring to a letter from chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, which was sent to Ashton on Tuesday, in which he proposed new discussions. Ashton is the point of contact for the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, who are demanding that Iran freeze all uranium enrichment.
“We voice our readiness for dialogue on a spectrum of various issues which can provide ground for constructive and forward looking cooperation,” Jalili wrote in the letter.
Ashton had written Jalili in October, offering Iran a new round of talks toward an agreement that “restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.” The West fears Iran seeks nuclear weapons, and speculation is rife that Israel may launch a pre-emptive strike to set back the program.
Jalili welcomed Ashton’s statement of respect for Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy use and said that “by committing to this approach, our talks for cooperation based on step-by-step principles and reciprocity on Iran’s nuclear issue could be commenced,” according to a translated copy of the letter.
In Vienna, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that Iran must disprove allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons, but that diplomacy is the only way to resolve international concern about its program.
Ban appeared to reject US and Israeli suggestions of possible military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as a last resort, if diplomatic efforts fail to persuade the Islamic Republic to stop work that could be used to make such weapons.
“All these issues should be resolved peacefully through negotiations, through dialogue,” the UN chief told reporters when asked if there was a “Plan B” — a possible alternative to diplomacy. I don’t know what you meant by ‘Plan B.’ But there is no alternative to a peaceful resolution to this issue.”
Ban spoke after attending ceremonies marking the 15th anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, a Vienna-based UN agency set up to detect secret nuclear weapons testing, and ahead of a crucial visit to Tehran by International Atomic Energy Agency experts.
Ban urged quick action from the United States and the seven other nations that need to ratify the nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to bring it into force.
“It is irresponsible to see this treaty still waiting to come into effect 15 years after it was opened for signature,” he said.
The IAEA team will arrive in Tehran Monday for talks meant to dent nearly four years of Iranian refusal to cooperate with the agency regarding allegations that Tehran has worked — or continues to work — on components of a nuclear weapons program. Iranian officials deny that, saying the claims are based on bogus intelligence from the United States and Israel.
But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said there are increasing indications of such activity. His concerns were outlined in 13-page summary late last year listing clandestine activities that either can be used in civilian or military nuclear programs, or “are specific to nuclear weapons.”
Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test and development of a nuclear payload for Iran’s Shahab 3 intermediate range missile — a weapon that could reach Israel.
“I am deeply concerned by the latest IAEA reports indicating that there may be military dimensions, there may be a possibility of a military dimension in Iranian nuclear development programs,” Ban said. “To my mind and to the IAEA they have not been able to convince the international community.
“So they have to fully cooperate with IAEA and the United Nations Security Council,” he said, alluding to its demands that Iran freeze all activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
The Islamic Republic continues such work, despite four sets of UN sanctions and growing financial and economic penalties imposed by the US, the European Union and other Washington allies.
Position
Meanwhile, facing international sanctions over its nuclear program, Iran is taking the position that it’s the victim, not the aggressor. Iran is pointing to the cases of five slain scientists whose deaths it blames on Israel and its allies.
From Iran’s view, it’s been the target of clandestine hit squads for more than two years while the West has ignored Iran’s claims that the Israeli Mossad spy agency is the mastermind.
“Iran’s official line is that it’s under siege, not the aggressor. This shows up everywhere in Iran’s policies and statements,” said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center based in Geneva.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on national television Wednesday next to photos of five nuclear scientists and researchers killed since 2010. Nearby was a large portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holding the son of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a senior director of Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility, who was killed last month after a magnetic bomb tore through his car in Tehran.
During earlier ceremonies to insert domestically made fuel rods at a Tehran research reactor, Ahmadinejad lifted to his knee the daughter of nuclear electronics expert Darioush Rezaeinejad, who was fatally shot last year by a pair of gunmen on motorcycles. Iran’s nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, embraced the girl.
The ribbon-cutting was done by the teenage son of slain nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari, who was killed in a November 2010 blast that also wounded Abbasi.
“What Iran unveiled was mostly for domestic consumption,” said Davood Hermidas Bavand, a prominent political commentator in Tehran. “Iran tries to tell its people that it has achieved its goals and that it has achieved proficiency in the nuclear fuel cycle technology” despite sanctions as well as attacks allegedly linked to Israel.
Israel has not directly commented on Iran’s allegations, yet officials have offered tantalizing hints that plots are always possible among Iran’s many opponents.