Hillarysworld

Iran to lodge protest with the U.N.

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Iran has decided to lodge a formal complaint in the United Nations against remarks by President Barack Obama of the United States that Washington could use nuclear weapons against Tehran.

“We will submit our formal complaint against this kind of threats to the United Nations,” said Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast in an interview with the semi-official Fars News Agency. Mr. Obama's remarks were “a threat to global security,” he said. In an interview with the New York Times ahead of the unveiling of the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), Mr. Obama had singled out Iran and North Korea as countries which would not benefit from Washington's pledge not to use nuclear weapons against Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) complying countries. Separately, amplifying Mr. Obama's remarks, the U.S. Defence Secretary, Robert Gates said: “I actually think that the NPR has a very strong message for both Iran and North Korea.”

More at the link.

 

 

Meanwhile, there is also this article..

Iran not yet nuclear capable: Gates (Narayan Lakshman, The Hindu 4/13/10)

Narayan Lakshman

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But present opaque situation just as dangerous

U.S. nuclear power remains main deterrent

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Washington DC: Iran was “not yet... nuclear capable”, U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a media interview released on Monday.

Speaking during a pre-recorded interview along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the NBC programme “Meet the Press”, Mr. Gates, however, said Iran's present position was as dangerous given the ambiguities in assessing the degree to which nuclear weapons development had been achieved. “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, and I do not actually know how you would verify that,” he argued.

Ms. Clinton avoided directly commenting on whether Iran was nuclear capable or not. “That's an issue upon which intelligence services still differ. But our goal is to prevent them from having nuclear weapons,” she said.

Mr. Gates further said U.S. nuclear capability as implied by the recent Nuclear Posture Review would continue to serve as the deterrent against Iran, rather than nuclear disarmament as under the new START deal between the U.S. and Russia.

He said the NPR put the U.S. in a much stronger position in terms of getting other countries' support for pressuring Iran and North Korea. “I think it also has, potentially, a deterrent effect on other countries who might be potential proliferators as they look at North Korea and, and Iran,” he added.

More at the link.

-- Edited by Sanders on Tuesday 13th of April 2010 12:25:49 PM