[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[stefania]

The Mullahs' Bomb

March 12, 2004
The Wall Street Journal
Review & Outlook

http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=03&d=12&a=5

Iran is ruled by a fanatical regime that is despised by its own people and every year tops the State Department's list of terror-sponsoring governments. Yet now Iran wants to be recognized as a perfectly normal nuclear state, with the right to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Yes, that's the incredible message coming out of Tehran and Vienna this week. As American and European diplomats quibble over whether they'll "deplore" or "condemn" the country's repeated nuclear deceptions, Iranian officials have all but declared they intend little or no future cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency attempts to prevent them from getting the bomb.

"We want Iran to be recognized as a member of the nuclear club, that means Iran be recognized as a country having the nuclear fuel cycle, and enriching uranium," said Hassan Rohani, Iran's nuclear pointman and head of the Supreme Council for National Security.

President Mohammed Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi have both warned that a strong rebuke could lead to a cessation of cooperation with the IAEA. Not surprisingly, they are attempting to drive a wedge between America and its European allies, warning the latter to "resist U.S. pressure" and offering lucrative oil contracts. Iran's state-sanctioned press has even mooted withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

This bluster is no doubt designed to obscure all of the ominous news about the Iranian nuclear program. The latest is that inspectors have found traces of bomb-grade, 90%-enriched uranium-235. There is no civilian application for uranium of that quality. Iran has also been forced to fess up to the military links of what it had claimed was merely a civilian enrichment program. And of course Tehran had denied having any enrichment program at all until an Iranian resistance group and Western intelligence proved otherwise. IAEA inspectors have also found traces of polonium-210, a radioactive element primarily useful as the trigger for a nuclear explosion.

In sum, no serious person can doubt that the Iranians are hellbent on building a nuclear arsenal. The only question is whether anyone is going to do anything about it.

Earlier this week the United States, along with Britain, France and Germany -- the three European countries who brokered this inspections process -- agreed to present the full IAEA board with a resolution that fails to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council but does condemn the multiple deceptions that have been exposed. Today in Vienna they'll face pressure for further compromise -- especially from Russia, which would like to continue building Iran's million reactor at Bushehr, a facility that would add plutonium to the list of Iranian options for a bomb core.

But far more critical than the language of the next IAEA resolution are the steps that could be taken in the coming months. The options here are not as limited as they might first appear, at least if the world can be persuaded to get serious.

Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center has useful suggestions built around strengthening "country-neutral" non-proliferation rules. They include a declaration that countries cannot unilaterally withdraw from the NPT, the suspension of all nuclear cooperation with any nation that doesn't get the IAEA's full seal of approval, and support for interdiction efforts against countries failing the IAEA test.

He also suggests asking the IAEA to spell out exactly what and how long it would take to certify that Iran is not in the bomb-making business. The Secretary of State or the President could also use the bully pulpit to demand Europe and Japan refrain from Iranian oil investments until the nuclear issues are cleared up.

We'd add there's an opportunity here for John Kerry to show a little statesmanship and do some good for the world too. Iran's mullahs are clearly trying to draw out their dance with the IAEA in the hope they'll get a friendlier Administration in Washington next year. But the presumptive Democratic nominee could help persuade them to abandon that strategy with an unequivocal declaration that he too would make stopping the Iranian bomb a priority.

The consequences of failure, after all, would be to permanently discredit the international arms control system that Mr. Kerry loves so much. It would also pave the way for future terrorist atrocities that make yesterday's carnage in Madrid look like child's play.
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