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There has been "a bit" of a slowdown in Iranian efforts to produce a nuclear bomb, the head of U.S. Central Command said today (see GSN, March 15).
(Mar. 16) -
U.S. Central Command head Gen. David Petraeus today said an Iranian effort to build a nuclear weapon has encountered delays (Mark Wilson/Getty Images).
Questioned by a Senate panel on the possible time line for Tehran to possess such a weapon, General David Petraeus said that "it has, thankfully, slid to the right a bit and it is not this calendar year, I don't think," Reuters reported.
Washington and other Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, but Tehran has maintained that the effort is strictly peaceful in nature.
While the United States is emphasizing use of sanctions to pressure Iran to give up its disputed nuclear operations, President Barack Obama "explicitly stated that he has not taken the military option off the table," Petraeus said.
The general would not address plans being made for the possible use of force against Iran.
Iran has more than 8,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz site. However, the facility is dealing with "some problems" and only about half of the machines that could be used to produce nuclear-weapon material are operational, U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said in February.
It was not immediately known whether Petraeus was discussing the Iranian technical troubles in his comments, according to Reuters (Entous/Stewart, Reuters I/New York Times, March 16).
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators yesterday pressed President Barack Obama not to seek a loophole for the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations in legislation aimed at penalizing non-U.S. firms supporting Iran's energy sector
The Obama administration has reportedly sought such an exemption in a bid to win support for a fourth round of Iran sanctions from China, which has expressed opposition to additional international penalties against Tehran (see GSN, March 5).
"As crucial as it is to work with our international partners to eliminate Iran's nuclear weapons program, explicit exceptions for certain countries would weaken the effect of our sanctions. Such exemptions would also make it easier for countries like China to undermine international efforts to sanction companies that support key sectors of Iran's economy," states the letter, signed by Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz).
Even without the modification, the bill would provide the president with "ample waiver authority," the lawmakers contended.
"Our standard for sanctions should be uniform across the board, unless the president decides that granting a waiver in a particular case is in the national security interest of the United States," the letter's authors wrote.
In response to a New York Times report that the federal government has worked with contractors also doing business with Iran, the senators urged Obama to order a General Services Administration review aimed at catching potential violators of the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act (U.S. Senator Charles Schumer release, March 15).
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday said the five permanent Security Council members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- "agreed ... that Iran must not become a nuclear weapons state."
"And we agreed on a dual-track strategy which is on the one hand engagement with Iran and at the same time pressure," the Associated Press quoted him as saying during a visit to China (Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press, March 15).
"We are coming to the phase where there should be sanctions against Iran," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Lebanon, according to Agence France-Presse.
"Iran has not accepted the constructive offers we have made and has even rejected them," Merkel said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, March 15).
China noted increased concern over the nuclear standoff while reaffirming its opposition to additional economic penalties against Iran, AFP reported.
"Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, I wish to point out that this issue is the subject of widespread attention in the international community. China has become more concerned about the current situation," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said after meeting with Miliband
"We will have even closer contact with members of the P-5+1 mechanism and other related parties," he said, referring to the five permanent Security Council member nations and Germany. "We will continue to make efforts to bring about a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue" (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, March 16).
"I have said before that sanctions do not provide a fundamental solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, ultimately this issue has to be resolved through peaceful negotiations, Reuters quoted Yang as saying (Emma Graham-Harrison, Reuters II, March 16).
Beijing is aware of the steps it could take to help contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Saudi Arabia's top diplomat said in remarks published yesterday.
"China is perfectly aware of the scope of its responsibilities and its obligations, including in the position it holds on the international stage and as a permanent member of the (U.N.) Security Council," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told the newspaper Al-Riyadh, according to AFP. He was responding to reports that Saudi Arabia had indicated a willingness to lobby for Chinese endorsement of a new Security Council resolution on Iran.
Beijing is part "of the six-party international group dealing with the Iran nuclear crisis," he noted, adding that Saudi Arabia backed the group's work to resolve the nuclear dispute.
"We hope that Iran would cooperate with those efforts, and to see an end to the crisis in a way that would serve in making the region free of all weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons in particular," the official said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, March 16).
Iran's economic ties to China have eclipsed the Middle Eastern country's other trade relationships, AFP reported. The nations carried out $21.2 billion in trade in last year, an increase of roughly one-third since 2006
Western efforts to economically isolate Tehran have prompted Iran to depend more heavily on its economic relationship with Beijing, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacedaily.com, March 15).
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday denied report that it had sought finished nuclear weapons from Pakistan in the 1980s, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"Such reports show the United States and the West's failure in an attempt to put pressure on Iran (over its nuclear program)," state media quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying (Xinhua News Agency/People's Daily, March 15).
Elsewhere, Iran has bolstered its gasoline reserves by roughly 250 million gallons over the last year, United Press International reported. The nation's limited oil refining capacity has forced it to import up to 40 percent of its gasoline, prompting speculation that a gasoline embargo might pressure Tehran to halt its disputed nuclear activities (United Press International, March 15).