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By Mark Hosenball and Michael Hirsh | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 12, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Sep 21, 2009
The Obama administration has accepted a long-awaited Iranian offer to negotiate, but responded skeptically to it. It was "not really responsive to our greatest concern," Iran's nuclear program, says a State Department spokesman. Tehran proposed talks on a range of issues last week but indicated it wouldn't discuss shutting down its uranium-enrichment program. Israel has signaled an end-of-year deadline for military action, but U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said last week that President Obama would be "taking stock" with permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (plus Germany) later this month.
Meanwhile, quarrels concerning the ultimate aim of Iran's secretive nuke program have become so heated that some U.N. officials are making comparisons to the proliferation of misinformation in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In a private e-mail sent last week to nuclear experts and obtained by NEWSWEEK, Tariq Rauf, a senior official with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote that the mainstream media are repeating mistakes from 2003, when they "carried unsubstantiated stories on Iraq and WMDthe same mistakes are being repeated re IAEA and Iran." Rauf added that "the hype is likely originating from certain (known) sources." The message does not specify the sources, but U.S. and European officials have previously accused Israel of exaggerating Iran's nuclear progress. ("I think there's a growing understanding and awareness that Iran is a threat to world stability," says a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy.) Asked to elaborate on Rauf's accusation, an IAEA spokesperson says, "The comments in his e-mail were made in a private context."
Western intelligence agencies are sharing reports about Iranian efforts to acquire weapons-related technology but disagree about what they mean. Most officials doubt Tehran is pursuing nuclear technology entirely for benign purposes. Israel doubts it, too, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that his patience is limited. Rice said no one is giving up on diplomacy, adding, "We have other tools." U.S. options could include stepping up sanctionsamong the senior Bush officials Obama kept on is Stuart Levey, the Treasury undersecretary who imposed tough restrictions on Iranbut the administration is likely to stall as it debates its policy.
U.S., Israel Wary of Iran Nuke Program | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
Published Sep 12, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Sep 21, 2009
The Obama administration has accepted a long-awaited Iranian offer to negotiate, but responded skeptically to it. It was "not really responsive to our greatest concern," Iran's nuclear program, says a State Department spokesman. Tehran proposed talks on a range of issues last week but indicated it wouldn't discuss shutting down its uranium-enrichment program. Israel has signaled an end-of-year deadline for military action, but U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said last week that President Obama would be "taking stock" with permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (plus Germany) later this month.
Meanwhile, quarrels concerning the ultimate aim of Iran's secretive nuke program have become so heated that some U.N. officials are making comparisons to the proliferation of misinformation in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In a private e-mail sent last week to nuclear experts and obtained by NEWSWEEK, Tariq Rauf, a senior official with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote that the mainstream media are repeating mistakes from 2003, when they "carried unsubstantiated stories on Iraq and WMDthe same mistakes are being repeated re IAEA and Iran." Rauf added that "the hype is likely originating from certain (known) sources." The message does not specify the sources, but U.S. and European officials have previously accused Israel of exaggerating Iran's nuclear progress. ("I think there's a growing understanding and awareness that Iran is a threat to world stability," says a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy.) Asked to elaborate on Rauf's accusation, an IAEA spokesperson says, "The comments in his e-mail were made in a private context."
Western intelligence agencies are sharing reports about Iranian efforts to acquire weapons-related technology but disagree about what they mean. Most officials doubt Tehran is pursuing nuclear technology entirely for benign purposes. Israel doubts it, too, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that his patience is limited. Rice said no one is giving up on diplomacy, adding, "We have other tools." U.S. options could include stepping up sanctionsamong the senior Bush officials Obama kept on is Stuart Levey, the Treasury undersecretary who imposed tough restrictions on Iranbut the administration is likely to stall as it debates its policy.
U.S., Israel Wary of Iran Nuke Program | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
