U.S. geopoliticians are all over the map on Iran's nuke progress
Thursday, March 12, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
Geostrategy-Direct.com
WASHINGTON — The U.S. foreign poilcy establishment is not speaking with one voice on the subject of Iran's nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. military has assessed that Teheran has accumulated sufficient enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon while the civilian defense leadership and the State Department insist that Iran remains unable to assemble a nuclear weapon. The dispute comes amid a drive by President Barack Obama to launch a reconciliation dialogue with Teheran.
"We think they do [have enough nuclear material for a bomb], quite frankly," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on March 1.
In an interview on the U.S. television network CNN, Mullen said he was concerned over an Iranian nuclear weapon. He said such a weapon would threaten both the Middle East and the rest of the world.
"Iran having a nuclear weapon, I believe, for a long time, is a very, very bad outcome for the region and for the world," Mullen said.
This marked the first time that a senior U.S. official said Iran had produced enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. In February 2009, U.S. National Intelligence director Dennis Blair said Iran remained years away from nuclear weapons capability.
Hours later, Defense Secretary Robert Gates played down Mullen's assessment. Gates, a holdover from the previous Bush administration, said the United States had time to utilize diplomatic means to stop Iran's weapons program.
"They're not close to a stockpile," Gates told NBC television. "They're not close to a weapon at this point, and so there is some time."
The State Department also disputed Mullen's assessment, issued ahead of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran expected to be released in April. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the United States did not know the size of Iran's fissile material stockpile.
"There are differing view not only outside government but also inside the government," Wood, who was accompanying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said. "We just don't know."
Mullen's spokesman, Capt. John Kirby, sought to play down the admiral's assessment of Iran. Kirby said the Joint Chiefs chairman was merely referring to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has processed more than a metric ton of low-enriched uranium.
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