Iran’s Nuclear Delays Buy Time on Military Action, Gates Says
Bloomberg -- Technical glitches and sanctions that have delayed Iran’s nuclear program give the U.S. and its partners more time to exert pressure without resorting to military action, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
“As we say, all options are on the table and we prepare for all options,” Gates said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television during a visit to China. “But I think that if we have bought some additional time, that it does give greater opportunity to the political-economic strategy.”
The defense chief also praised the Chinese government for its “constructive” role in trying to restrain North Korean belligerence. The Obama administration has been pushing China to rein in its communist ally after two attacks on South Korea last year killed 50 people.
China and the U.S. “have a common interest, going forward, in trying to get ahead of these provocations, prevent them from happening again in the future and put the relationship between the North and the South on a more positive track,” Gates said.
The U.S. has aimed for years to persuade leaders in Tehran to give up development of technology that could produce a nuclear weapon. The Obama administration last year won support from China, Russia and the European Union to intensify financial and economic sanctions.
Possible Sabotage
Reports indicate that possible sabotage has hindered Iran’s efforts to enrich uranium, a process necessary to produce an atomic bomb. Iran last month began reducing three-decade-old energy subsidies worth as much as $50 billion as restrictions from the United Nations, the U.S. and Europe took their toll.
The possible delays won’t hurt U.S. efforts to keep up the pressure on Iran, Gates said. Sanctions are “evidence of the international community’s belief that these kinds of pressures are the best way to deal with this problem,” he said.
Israel’s outgoing head of intelligence, Meir Dagan, said last week Iran wouldn’t be able to produce a nuclear weapon before 2015, three or four years later than earlier Israeli estimates. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday cited the effect of sanctions and technical problems.
“Their program from our best estimate has been slowed down, so we have time, but not a lot of time,” Clinton said at a town hall meeting at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University. Continued…
Tehran tells the West to grab opportunities provided by Iran
Tehran Times– Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said the West should use the current opportunities provided by Iran to increase cooperation with the Islamic Republic.
Salehi was referring to Iran’s recent move in inviting some members of the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77, and the 5+1 group to send representatives to visit Iran’s nuclear sites.
The invitation shows Iran’s transparency of in its nuclear drive, Salehi said during a meeting with visiting Swiss deputy foreign minister Peter Maurer in Tehran on Monday.
He went on to say that Iran-Switzerland relations are old and amicabl.
Maurer also said that the two countries should expand cooperation in economic, scientific and cultural areas.
He also expressed hope that Tehran and Bern would increase cooperation in religious matters
Iran says Israeli spy network dismantled, terrorists arrested
Xinhua-- Iran said Monday it has dismantled an Israeli spying network and arrested a group of its terrorist-spies who were linked to the assassination of its nuclear scientist.
According to an announcement by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, the Iranian security forces arrested the elements of the terror attack on Iran’s nuclear scientist, Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, and annihilated the "spying and terrorist network of the Zionist regime" of Israel linked to the assassination, Iranian state IRINN TV reported.
The announcement said that "In order to carry out its non-human, anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian wills, the Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency) has used its bases in some European, non- European and some neighboring states of the Islamic Republic to conduct the terror attack against Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi," according to the TV report.
In January 2010, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, the nuclear scientist from Tehran University, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorbike parked near his house.
Following clever security operations, Iran finally succeeded in arresting the main agents behind the terrorist incident and dismantled a network comprising of spies and terrorists commissioned by Israel, an Intelligence Ministry announcement was quoted as saying by local satellite Press TV on Monday.
The announcement was also quoted as saying by IRINN that in the near future the detailed information concerning the arrests will be issued
Iran to sit with six powers Jan 21-22
ISNA-Iran said on Tuesday that it will sit with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on January 21-22 in Istanbul.
"Iran and the P5+1 have agreed to meet on January 21-22 in Istanbul," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in his regular briefing session, but he did not give details on presence of other countries in the dialogues.
He also added Iran and Afghanistan resolved fuel swap issue and fuel was delivered to Afghan people through Iran last week.
As to appointment of new Iranian new Foreign Minister, Mehmanparast said, "Mr. Salehi is most likely to take over charge of Foreign Ministry and Iran will make decision for chief of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) after installation of new Foreign Minister."
Iranian acting Foreign Ali Akbar Salehi is also running AEOI.
Mehmanparast also said the judicial process of two German nationals captured in Iran following an illegal interview is under way and, "we should wait for final results to be declared by judicial officials."
The two Germans were arrested following an illegal interview with families of an Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani who is sentenced to stoning because of killing his husband and having an adultery.