Dec 6, 2007
Spies show Bush a way forward on Iran
By Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON - Despite the White House spin that the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) supports its policy of increasing pressure on Iran, the estimate not only directly contradicts the George W Bush administration's line on Iranian intentions regarding nuclear weapons but points to a link between Tehran's 2003 decisions to halt research on weaponization and to negotiate with European foreign ministers on both nuclear and Iranian security concerns
That judgment confirms what International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamed ElBaradei and other close observers of the Iranian nuclear program have been saying since 2004: Iran is not interested in nuclear weapons but in the deterrent value inherent in the knowledge of mastering the nuclear fuel cycle
The three European foreign ministers pledged, in turn, to "cooperate with Iran to promote security and stability in the region, including the establishment of a zone free from weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East in accordance with the objectives of the United Nations"
The Bush administration had opposed the initiative of the European three in offering a political agreement with Iran that would offer security and other concessions as part of a broader deal. The administration wanted to bring Iran quickly before the United Nations Security Council so that it would be subject to international sanctions
Britain, France and Germany reached an agreement with Iran in mid-November 2004 under which Iran pledged to "provide objective guarantees that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes" and the EU three promised "firm guarantees on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation and firm commitments on security issues"
The European three then began to backtrack from that agreement under pressure from Washington. But the new evidence that Iran made the decision to drop all weapons-related research at that time appears to confirm the correctness of the original European negotiating approach
That judgment confirms what International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamed ElBaradei and other close observers of the Iranian nuclear program have been saying since 2004: Iran is not interested in nuclear weapons but in the deterrent value inherent in the knowledge of mastering the nuclear fuel cycle
The three European foreign ministers pledged, in turn, to "cooperate with Iran to promote security and stability in the region, including the establishment of a zone free from weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East in accordance with the objectives of the United Nations"
The Bush administration had opposed the initiative of the European three in offering a political agreement with Iran that would offer security and other concessions as part of a broader deal. The administration wanted to bring Iran quickly before the United Nations Security Council so that it would be subject to international sanctions
Britain, France and Germany reached an agreement with Iran in mid-November 2004 under which Iran pledged to "provide objective guarantees that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes" and the EU three promised "firm guarantees on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation and firm commitments on security issues"
The European three then began to backtrack from that agreement under pressure from Washington. But the new evidence that Iran made the decision to drop all weapons-related research at that time appears to confirm the correctness of the original European negotiating approach
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IL06Ak04.html
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