Rice Plays Down Hawkish Talk About Iran
MADRID, June 1 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought Friday to minimize any sense of division within the Bush administration over Iran after the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency delivered a pointed warning against what he called the “new crazies” pushing for military action against Tehran.
“The president of the United States has made it clear that we are on a course that is a diplomatic course,” Ms. Rice said here. “That policy is supported by all of the members of the cabinet, and by the vice president of the United States.”
Ms. Rice’s assurance came as senior officials at the State Department were expressing fury over reports that members of Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff have told others that Mr. Cheney believes the diplomatic track with Iran is pointless, and is looking for ways to persuade Mr. Bush to confront Iran militarily.
In a news conference on Friday, Ms. Rice maintained that Mr. Cheney supported her strategy of trying to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy. A senior Bush administration official separately denied that there was a deep divide between Ms. Rice and Mr. Cheney on Iran.
But, the official said, “The vice president is not necessarily responsible for every single thing that comes out of the mouth of every single member of his staff.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about any divide within the administration.
The reports about hawkish statements by members of Mr. Cheney’s staff first surfaced last week in The Washington Note, an influential blog put out by Steve Clemons of the left-leaning New America Foundation. The reports have alarmed European diplomats, some of whom fear that the struggle over Iran’s nuclear program may evolve into a decision by the Bush administration to resort to force against Iran.
In interviews, people who have spoken with Mr. Cheney’s staff have confirmed the broad outlines of the reports, and said that some of the hawkish statements to outsiders had been made by David Wurmser, a former Pentagon official who is now the principal deputy assistant to Mr. Cheney for national security affairs. The accounts were provided by people who expressed alarm about the statements, but refused to be quoted by name.
“The vice president and his staff fully support the president’s position on Iran” a spokeswoman for Mr. Cheney, Megan McGinn, said.
During an interview with BBC Radio broadcast Friday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he did not want to see another war like the one still raging in Iraq four years after the American-led invasion there.
“You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say, ‘Let’s go and bomb Iran,’ ” Dr. ElBaradei said. “I wake up every morning and see 100 Iraqis, innocent civilians, are dying.”
Dr. ElBaradei, who has urged Western powers to consider allowing Iran limited uranium enrichment on its own territory, is already facing criticism from Bush administration officials who say he should stick to monitoring Iran’s nuclear program and leave diplomatic policy to the six countries that have banded together to confront Tehran’s ambitions.
But several Western European officials echoed his concern, and said privately that they were worried that Mr. Cheney’s “red line” — the point at which he believed Iran was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear weapon and a military strike was necessary — may be coming soon. “We fully believe that Foggy Bottom is committed to the diplomatic track,” one European official said Wednesday, referring the State Department. “But there’s some concern about the vice president’s office.”
Dr. ElBaradei told the BBC that one could not “bomb knowledge.” Asked who the “new crazies” were, he said, “Those who have extreme views and say the only solution is to impose our will by force.”
Exactly one year ago on Friday, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France offered a package of incentives to Iran if it stopped enriching uranium, which Iran maintains is for peaceful purposes but which the West believes is directed toward a nuclear weapons program. Iran rejected the offer, and the United Nations Security Council has since passed two sets of sanctions aimed at forcing that country’s governing religious leadership to change its mind.
Ms. Rice was the one who prodded Mr. Bush last year to offer to reverse 27 years of American policy and join European talks with Iran over its nuclear program, provided that Iran suspended its enrichment of uranium. Some conservative hawks in the administration have privately expressed doubt that the diplomatic course would yield much.
Last week, the atomic energy agency issued a report detailing Iran’s progress in enriching uranium, and said that Iran had 1,300 centrifuges running during a surprise inspection in May. The report did say that Iran had fed only 260 kilograms of uranium hexafluoride into the machines for enrichment over the past few months, suggesting that the centrifuges were running quite slowly. But American officials have nonetheless called the report “alarming” because Iran is closing in on the 3,000 centrifuges needed to make a nuclear bomb.
Ms. Rice, traveling through Europe this week, refused to say where her “red line” is on Iran, and, when asked, maintained that she intended to continue to pursue the diplomatic course with Iran. In Madrid on Friday for a brief stop to try to mend the Bush administration’s tattered relations with Spain’s Socialist government, Ms. Rice was asked whether she could assure that Mr. Cheney did not want to use military action to deal with Iran.
“The most powerful set of disincentives that we have now are the collateral effects of Iran being under a Security Council resolution, which has made the private sector think twice about the investment and reputational risk of getting involved with Iran,” she said.
“I will tell you what will help to get us to a place where we don’t have an unpalatable choice,” she said. “We do have a choice, we have a diplomatic choice.”
Bush Demands Iran Free Detainees
WASHINGTON, June 1 (AP) — President Bush demanded Friday that Iran “immediately and unconditionally” release four Iranian-Americans detained for alleged espionage, and provide information about a former F.B.I. agent missing there.
“I strongly condemn their detention at the hands of Iranian authorities,” he said in a written statement. The United States has denied that the four detainees are spies.
The State Department on Thursday warned United States citizens against traveling to Iran, accusing its Islamic authorities of harassing Iranian-Americans.
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