|
Rice Says Nuclear Material Headed to Iran Intercepted
The U.S. and its allies in a program to stop the spread of
weapons of mass destruction prevented Iran from obtaining material
for its nuclear weapons program within the past nine months,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "The trans-shipment of
material and equipment bound for ballistic missile programs in
countries of concern, including Iran" was blocked as was the transfer
of "equipment used to produce propellant" to a "ballistic missile
program in another region" of the world, Rice said.
Iran was the only nation interdicted that Rice cited by name.
"PSI partners, working at times with others, have prevented Iran
from procuring goods to support its missile and WMD programs,
including its nuclear program,'' she said at the State Department in
Washington.
Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker
said the U.S. is withholding details of the interdictions to ensure
continued cooperation from countries that do not want their
participation made public.
Daily News_____________________
Rice disclosed the intercepts in a speech celebrating the second
anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative, a global effort
started by President George W. Bush to stop trafficking in weapons of
mass destruction. Rice gave no details but said that the U.S. and
10 of its partners in the initiative have cooperated on 11 successful
interdiction efforts over the past nine months. Iran was the only
nation interdicted that she cited by name.
"PSI partners, working at times with others, have prevented Iran
from procuring goods to support its missile and WMD programs,
including its nuclear program,'' she said at the State Department in
Washington.
Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker
said the U.S. is withholding details of the interdictions to ensure
continued cooperation from countries that do not want their
participation made public.
"I know it probably looks like we're playing coy," Rademaker said
after Rice's remarks. "The point is some governments just prefer to
keep these things quiet. And that's part of the reason the PSI works
effectively."
Rice's comments came just minutes after Bush renewed U.S. support
for European-led negotiations designed to persuade Iran to
permanently abandon uranium enrichment, a capability that would allow
it to produce nuclear weapons.
"Our policy is to prevent them from having the capacity to develop
enriched uranium to the point where they're able to make a nuclear
weapon," Bush said at a news conference. ``Therefore we're working
with the EU-3 to hopefully convince the Iranians to abandon their
pursuits of such a program,'' Bush added referring to France, Germany
and the U.K.
Setback due to UN mishandling nuclear ambitions of the Mullahs
of Iran
Efforts to curb nuclear proliferation worldwide suffered a setback
last week when a United Nations review of the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty ended in failure, with no new agreement on
how to block nuclear programs in either Iran or North Korea.
Sixty countries have expressed their support for the PSI network,
according to the State Department.
Rice credited the initiative for the 2003 interdiction of the ship
BBC China, saying the intercept played a ``major role'' in the
unraveling of the global nuclear network of Pakistan's former chief
nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and in Libya's decision to
eliminate its weapons of mass destruction programs.
The German-owned ship bound for Libya contained thousands of
centrifuges that could have been used in the production of a nuclear
device.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said the
Proliferation Security Initiative ``makes intelligence
actionable. "Through PSI, intelligence can be coupled to government
actions in whatever way is judged to be maximally effective by the
responsible authorities," Negroponte said in remarks at the
anniversary ceremony. Ambassadors from Singapore, Denmark and Japan,
all participants in the initiative, also described PSI as an
important part of the global effort to combat the spread of weapons
of mass destruction.
Noticeably absent from the PSI event was John Bolton, Bush's
nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. As undersecretary
for arms control and international security, Bolton has led the U.S.
drive to win endorsement for the nonproliferation initiative,
negotiating cooperation agreements with worldwide.
Senate Democrats blocked a vote on his nomination to the UN post
last week. The earliest the Senate could vote again is June 7.
Story Credits: Janine Zacharia writing in
Bloomberg.org To contact the reporter on this story:
Janine Zacharia in Washington at jzacharia@...
__________________________________________________
Discuss this
article
|
