Khamenei Slams Obama; Gates Says Iran Not Nuke Capable Yet

Iran not yet 'nuclear capable': US defense chief
Washington (AFP) April 11, 2010 - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that Iran is not on the threshold of producing a nuclear weapon and that its program was progressing slower than Tehran expected. "I'd just say, and it's our judgment here, they are not nuclear capable," Gates said in an interview. "Not yet." Speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," Gates said that Iran was "continuing to make progress" in a nuclear program that Washington suspects is a clandestine effort to develop an atomic arsenal. "It's going slower... than they anticipated. But they are moving in that direction," he said. Asked to compare the danger posed by Iran armed with an atomic bomb or with the ability to produce one, Gates said: "How far have they gone? If their policy is to go (to) the threshold, but not assemble a nuclear weapon, how do you tell that they have not assembled? "So, it becomes a serious verification question." The Pentagon chief also denied that the US administration was resigned to Iran becoming a nuclear-armed power.

"We have not... drawn that conclusion at all. And in fact, we're doing everything we can to try and keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons," he said. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who appeared along with Gates on television political talk shows, argued that Washington's "patience" had helped build international support for sanctions against Iran. Clinton told NBC that "what we have found over the last months, because of our strategic patience, and our willingness to keep on this issue, is that countries are finally saying, 'You know, I kind of get it... they're the ones who shut the door, and now we have to do something.'" Clinton and Gates said a new arms control deal with Russia and a revised US nuclear policy would bolster President Barack Obama's diplomatic efforts to isolate Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs. In a policy shift, the Obama administration said on Tuesday it would only use atomic weapons in "extreme circumstances" and would not attack non-nuclear states that complied with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But Clinton and Gates underlined that Iran and North Korea were seen as exceptions because of their defiance of UN resolutions, and that using US nuclear weapons could not be ruled out.

Asked why Iran and North Korea were considered exceptions, Gates said: "Well, because they're not in compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. So for them all bets are off. All the options are on table." Clinton added that if the United States came under biological attack, "then all bets are off." "We leave ourselves a lot of room for contingencies," she said. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meanwhile reacted to the US policy by accusing Obama on Sunday of threatening a "nuclear attack" on Iran. On Friday, Tehran said it will mass produce speedier centrifuges for its controversial uranium enrichment program. Khamenei, the commander-in-chief of Iran's armed forces and final decision maker on key policy issues, told a meeting of the military's top brass that Obama "has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons," state television quoted him as saying. Western governments are working to forge a consensus at the UN Security Council on new punitive sanctions to force Iran to freeze uranium enrichment. China has agreed to join five other major powers for more talks on a fourth set of UN sanctions against Iran, easing its earlier opposition.

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) April 11, 2010
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed US President Barack Obama on Sunday for threatening a "nuclear attack" even as Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he did not believe Iran had an atomic bomb.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran will officially complain to the United Nations regarding Obama's "threats" after 225 members of parliament asked the government to take up the issue.

Khamenei, the commander-in-chief of Iran's armed forces and final decision maker on key policy issues, warned a meeting of the military's top brass on Sunday to be more "alert" about such threats.

"He (Obama) has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons," state television quoted Khamenei as saying.

"These comments are very strange and the world should not ignore them because in the 21st century... the head of a state is threatening a nuclear attack," said Iran's spiritual guide.

"The US president's statements are disgraceful. Such comments harm the US and they mean that the US government is wicked and unreliable."

In a policy shift, Washington said on Tuesday it would use atomic weapons only in "extreme circumstances" and would not attack non-nuclear states -- but singled out "outliers" Iran and North Korea as exceptions.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in a television interview on Sunday that Washington was making exceptions of Tehran and Pyongyang because they had defied repeated UN Security Council ultimatums over their nuclear programmes.

"Well, because they're not in compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. So for them all bets are off. All the options are on table," Gates said.

After a year of attempting diplomatic initiatives, Obama has in recent weeks ratcheted up pressure for fresh UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, which Washington suspects is masking a weapons drive.

Khamenei dismissed Washington's policy as passing "tornados."

"After 30 years, the Iranian nation has shown that it is more resilient and strong and has the ability to stand against any kind of threat," the cleric said.

"Our armed forces must also be alert towards such threats and take their training seriously."

Iranian atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday that Tehran would in the coming months begin mass-producing centrifuges capable of enriching uranium three times faster than existing systems.

On Friday, Iran unveiled a third-generation centrifuge it said can enrich uranium six times faster than the IR-1 system currently installed at its plant in the central city of Natanz.

The Natanz facility has a capacity of 60,000 centrifuges, and Iran has been steadily enriching uranium there for years in defiance of three sets of UN sanctions and the threat of a fourth.

Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns over Iran's nuclear programme as the sensitive process can produce fuel for a reactor or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

The US defence secretary said on Sunday that Washington did not believe that Tehran yet had a nuclear weapons capability.

"It's going slower... than they anticipated. But they are moving in that direction," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I'd just say, and it's our judgment here, they are not nuclear capable," Gates added. "Not yet."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who appeared along with Gates on television political talk shows, argued that Washington's "patience" had helped build international support for sanctions against Iran.

Clinton told NBC that "what we have found over the last months, because of our strategic patience, and our willingness to keep on this issue, is that countries are finally saying, 'You know, I kind of get it... they're the ones who shut the door, and now we have to do something.'"

On Thursday, Washington secured Beijing's agreement to further talks among the major powers on new UN sanctions against Tehran.

A key trade partner of Iran, China had previously been the leading obstacle to adoption of a fresh sanctions package by the Security Council among its five veto-wielding permanent members.

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Iran says to mass produce speedier centrifuges
Tehran (AFP) April 11, 2010
Iran said it will soon begin mass production of centrifuges capable of enriching uranium, the most controversial part of its nuclear programme, three times faster than existing systems. Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the Islamic republic also now possessed the technical know-how to manufacture the fuel pellets required to power atomic reactors. "The mass production of second generati ... read more

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