Demosthenes
2006-01-16, 08:13 AM
SENIOR Republican and Democrat members of Congress have urged swift action against Iran, including UN-mandated economic sanctions, as the sense of crisis over Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment escalated in Washington.
Republican Senator John McCain, a leading candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, said Iran's decision to restart research into enriching uranium, a major step on the road to developing nuclear weapons, was "the most grave situation we have faced" since the end of the Cold War.
"The Iranians showed their face when their President came to the UN and advocated the eradication of the State of Israel from the Earth," he said. "We must go to the UN now for sanctions.
"If the Russians and the Chinese, for reasons that would be abominable, do not join us, then we will have to go with the states that are willing."
Asked whether the US should consider military action against Iran, Senator McCain said it should not be ruled out, though he said that any military action could have grave consequences.
"But there's only one thing worse than the United States exercising the military option; that is a nuclear-armed Iran. The military option is the last option but cannot be taken off the table," he said.
Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, a leading critic of the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq war, agreed with Senator McCain that Iran's nuclear ambitions represented a grave threat not only to Middle East stability, but to the "whole international community".
"Iran has much more opportunity to create devastation in the Middle East than Iraq at this time," she said. "I think it's a very serious threat."
In London, US and European representatives are meeting to discuss how to get Russia and China to agree to Security Council action against Iran, something that China, in particular, has shown great reluctance to countenance. The meeting follows a decision by the EU negotiating countries Britain, France and Germany with Iran to end talks after Tehran said it would remove the special seals from its uranium enrichment equipment.
Democrat and Republican members of Congress agreed that it was preferable for action to be taken against Iran through UN-imposed sanctions, but there was recognition that Russia and China might veto such a move.
Russia has a $US1 billion ($A1.3 billion) project in Iran to build the country's first nuclear reactor and Iran is one of China's major oil suppliers. Senator McCain agreed that any action against Iran by the UN could seriously disrupt oil supplies and have a serious impact on the world economy. "If the price of oil has to go up then that's a consequence we would have to suffer."
Meanwhile, Newsweek has reported that International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei says he cannot be sure that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. "For the last three years we have been doing intensive verification in Iran and even after after three years, I am not yet in a position to make a judgement on the peaceful nature of the program," he says.
"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation program along the way, they are really not very far a few months from a weapon."
^ ^This is complete and utter bullshit.
Republican Senator John McCain, a leading candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, said Iran's decision to restart research into enriching uranium, a major step on the road to developing nuclear weapons, was "the most grave situation we have faced" since the end of the Cold War.
"The Iranians showed their face when their President came to the UN and advocated the eradication of the State of Israel from the Earth," he said. "We must go to the UN now for sanctions.
"If the Russians and the Chinese, for reasons that would be abominable, do not join us, then we will have to go with the states that are willing."
Asked whether the US should consider military action against Iran, Senator McCain said it should not be ruled out, though he said that any military action could have grave consequences.
"But there's only one thing worse than the United States exercising the military option; that is a nuclear-armed Iran. The military option is the last option but cannot be taken off the table," he said.
Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, a leading critic of the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq war, agreed with Senator McCain that Iran's nuclear ambitions represented a grave threat not only to Middle East stability, but to the "whole international community".
"Iran has much more opportunity to create devastation in the Middle East than Iraq at this time," she said. "I think it's a very serious threat."
In London, US and European representatives are meeting to discuss how to get Russia and China to agree to Security Council action against Iran, something that China, in particular, has shown great reluctance to countenance. The meeting follows a decision by the EU negotiating countries Britain, France and Germany with Iran to end talks after Tehran said it would remove the special seals from its uranium enrichment equipment.
Democrat and Republican members of Congress agreed that it was preferable for action to be taken against Iran through UN-imposed sanctions, but there was recognition that Russia and China might veto such a move.
Russia has a $US1 billion ($A1.3 billion) project in Iran to build the country's first nuclear reactor and Iran is one of China's major oil suppliers. Senator McCain agreed that any action against Iran by the UN could seriously disrupt oil supplies and have a serious impact on the world economy. "If the price of oil has to go up then that's a consequence we would have to suffer."
Meanwhile, Newsweek has reported that International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei says he cannot be sure that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. "For the last three years we have been doing intensive verification in Iran and even after after three years, I am not yet in a position to make a judgement on the peaceful nature of the program," he says.
"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation program along the way, they are really not very far a few months from a weapon."
^ ^This is complete and utter bullshit.