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15 December 2009
Clinton Says Iranian Actions Have Heightened Concerns
Washington — Recent actions by the Iranian regime have served to heighten concerns about the regime’s real intentions regarding nuclear fuel reprocessing and the need for further international actions, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says.
“The recent announcement by their parliament that they intend to build 10 or 20 more nuclear plants should raise deep concerns among all people,” Clinton said.
The United States in the past year has offered every opportunity to engage the Iranian government in discussions on its nuclear development program, and worked closely with five other nations in a significant diplomatic process, she said. In that same time period, the Iranians have failed to follow through on the negotiations over their highly enriched uranium for a research reactor, she said.
“I don’t think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of positive response from the Iranians,” Clinton said at a press briefing December 14 at the State Department.
The United States has worked with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia along with the European Union in trying to convince the Iranian regime to forgo development of a nuclear weapons program. The latest offer made by the six nations in October involved Iran shipping the bulk of its uranium to Russia for processing in a single shipment that would be returned to Iran in a form usable for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
The Iranians have offered a different proposal where they would ship a third of the nuclear fuel for final processing and the remainder would be shipped over years, according to published news reports.
“The concerns that we have regarding Iranian intentions with their nuclear program have been heightened already in the last months with the disclosure of the concealed facility at Qom, [and] with the failure of the Iranians to follow through on the negotiations over their highly enriched uranium for the Tehran research reactor, which they had agreed in principle to ship out of the country for reprocessing,” Clinton said.
While the United States and its partners have pursued a diplomatic track with the Iranians, she said, they have also pursued another strategy to bring the international community together to stand in a united front against Iran. Clinton acknowledged that additional pressure in the form of sanctions — economic and political — may become necessary to impress the Iranian regime of the importance of changing its actions.
The United States has said it may become necessary to pursue more sanctions through the United Nations. The U.N. Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear development program, and unilateral actions have been taken by individual countries.
INTERNATIONAL REPORT
In November, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors voted to censure Iran for building a second uranium enrichment plant at Qom, and the Iranian regime followed up by announcing plans to build 10 more plants to enrich uranium, which is a necessary building block for constructing nuclear weapons.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told the U.N. Security Council during debate December 10 that Iran has been caught breaking the rules repeatedly.
“Should Iran continue to fail to meet its obligations, the international community will have to consider further actions,” Rice said. “Iran must conclusively demonstrate a similar willingness to engage constructively and address the serious issues associated with its nuclear program.”
The IAEA report shows that instead of complying with its nuclear obligations, Iran has “expanded its work in uranium enrichment and heavy-water-related activities, and has conducted a multi-year effort to construct a clandestine enrichment facility, in contravention of the U.N. Security Council requirements and IAEA obligations,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. The IAEA report, published November 16, comes after its inspectors visited Iran’s newly revealed nuclear facility near the city of Qom.
