IRAN: WMD and nuclear power

It is charged that the US used the story that Iraq had WMD as a pretext to invade and occupy it. Now the US is saying that Iran's nuclear reactor program is a cover for WMD, and Iran wonders if it will be the next target of US attention (Reuters, 6/3/03). Iran said the United States could help it build nuclear reactors as a way of ensuring that Tehran kept its word not to develop atomic weapons. "If the Americans are really worried about our nuclear ambitions, they could take part in constructing our nuclear power plants," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. US officials have already dismissed the idea, floated last week by Russia.The US and Russian presidents said they had narrowed their differences over Iran at a meeting in St Petersburg. But Moscow has yet to heed Washington's pleas that it stop building Iran's first nuclear reactor, at Bushehr. Having taken over Iraq, US President George Bush has increased pressure on the rest of his "axis of evil", Iran and North Korea, accusing them of developing nuclear weapons, though stopping well short of threatening military action like the invasion of Iraq. Unlike North Korea, Iran denies seeking nuclear arms. The oil- and gas-rich Islamic republic says it wants to sell its fossil energy resources on the world market for hard currency, and is therefore investing in power-generating reactors to meet its domestic requirements. Asefi said that Washington was simply using the reactor program as a "pretext to put pressure on Iran", with which it has been at odds since the Islamic revolution of 1979. He said Tehran welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for tighter controls on atomic weapons: "We totally agree with Putin's remarks regarding weapons of mass destruction. Iran was the first country that suggested the whole region must be void of such weapons," Asefi said. "Russia has acknowledged our nuclear activities are peaceful." Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but has not signed the Additional Protocol, which stipulates UN inspections with minimal advance notification. Analysts say Iran's signing of the Additional Protocol would go a long way to ease concerns over Tehran's nuclear intentions. "We will sign it when the current limitations and embargos are lifted, and when we make sure that signing another agreement will not impose more limitations to Iran," said Asefi.

Ronald Hilton - 6/8/03