Panel Spars Over Diplomatic Influence Of Post-Nuclear Iran

At a panel of leading foreign policy experts hosted by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) on Friday, Ambassador John Limbert, former deputy assistant Secretary of State, declared that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons won’t significantly alter in influence on the global environment.  

“I heard that the comment that an Iranian nuclear weapon would change everything in the region,” Limbert said. “Well, I’m sure it would change some things, but there are certain things it would not change and Iran would remain essentially isolated and diplomatically weak as it is today.”

Other panel members, however, disagreed with Limbert. 

John Hannah, former national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, said that an Iranian nuclear weapon would greatly increase Iran’s economic and diplomatic global influence.

“With a country as important as Iran - as large as it is, as influential as it is, with as much oil as it has - there could be an awful lot of people flowing back to deal with Iranians,” Hannah said. “That sanctions regime and isolation will, in fact, inevitably erode and eventually disappear.”

Stephen Rademaker, former assistant Secretary of State, echoed Hannah’s sentiments and explained that if Iran had nuclear weapons during their proxy war with Israel in 2006, they would have been more liberal in their tactics against Israel.

“Iran, in that war, had to be restrained,” Rademaker said. “There was a level of escalation beyond which Israel would stop hitting back at Hezbollah, the proxy, and they would hit back at the patron of the proxy.”

“Nuclear weapons change that,” Rademaker continued. “If Tehran has nuclear weapons the ability of Israel to hit back at the patron, the real sponsor of the war, is substantially diminished.”

Limbert, however, claimed that his fellow panelists’ alternate opinion is based on a general misconception of Iran’s power.

After comparing Iran to a backgammon player that improvises frequently, Limbert expressed that, “this lack of contact, this lack of engagement…has led to a distorted image of what they can do and what they are capable of.”

Donilon: Iran Must Continue To Be Pressured To Cease Pursuit Of Nuclear Weapons

By Adrianna McGinley

National Security Advisor Tom Donilon praised the Obama administration for taking strong action to successfully isolate Iran, increasing pressure on the nation to halt its nuclear weapons program.

In an address at the Brookings Institution Tuesday, Donilon said the pressure on Iran has drastically increased over the past three years because of clear policy from the White House and increasing support from the international community, a key factor that, he says, was missing not long ago.

“Many in the world had even begun to give Iran the benefit of the doubt,” Donilon said. “[They] blamed the United States for tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, thereby allowing Iran to escape accountability for its intransigence. This was the dangerous dynamic that President Obama was determined to reverse.”

Donilon credited increased sanctions and strengthened defense partnerships for slowing Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, but said that the pressure must continue.

“The Iranian government has repeatedly rejected the opportunity for credible dialogue and it also rejected substantial economic, political, and scientific incentives,” Donilon said. “It has forged ahead with its nuclear program.  It has ignored its commitments.  It has continued to defy United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

Donilon said the isolation of Iran and its economic instability has put the Iranian regime in danger of facing Arab Spring style uprisings other nations in the region have experienced, something he says the U.S. fully supports.

“We will continue to deepen Iran’s isolation, regionally and globally,” Donilon committed. “Even as the door to diplomacy remains open, we will take no option off the table.  For our focus and purpose are clear.  Pressure is a means not an end, and our policy is firm.  We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

Saudi Prince: Obama Let Palestinians Down At UN

While addressing an audience at the National Press Club (NPC) on Tuesday, Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Al Faisal called out President Obama for letting the Palestinians down at the UN General Assembly.

“When you have a president in the United States who calls for a two-state solution…and says, ‘within a year I hope to see a Palestinian state,’ [but] when the Palestinians during that year… go to the UN to get a state…[and] he stands up and says, ‘no I am going to veto that’,” Al Faisal remarked, “that is where not only disappointment, but… anger and frustration increased dramatically in people’s minds in the Arab world that they have been let down.”

Obama’s decision to veto the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN will have “devastating effects” on the U.S-Saudi Arabia relationship, according to al-Faisal

The Saudi Prince also expressed opposition towards Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and meddling in other Arab nations’ affairs.

“Saudi Arabia continues to insist that Iran’s leaders should give up their goal of acquiring nuclear weapons and create, by deed, the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East,” Al-Faisal said. “This is clearly what is best for the people of Iran and the region.”

Al-Faisal said the he is fully supportive of the tightening of sanctions, assertive diplomacy and concerted action via the United Nations to encourage Iran to cease their nuclear weapons development. However, the Saudi Arabian prince said his country would not support a military attack on Iran.

“An attack on Iran, I think, would have catastrophic consequences not only in terms of human loss… but also because Iran can retaliate and the retaliation by Iran would be worldwide,” Al-Faisal expressed. “If anything, it will only make the Iranians more determined to produce an atomic bomb, it will rally support for the government among the population, and it will not end the program, it will merely delay it, if anything.”

UN Agency: Iran Still Working Towards A-Bomb

Indications are that Iran has been working on technologies specific to nuclear weaponry, says a long awaited report from the UN Nuclear energy agency.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency outlines four activities allegedly carried out by Iranian regime it says are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device and comes as Israeli officials continue public musings about possible military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The four activities the agency found evidence for are:  

1)Efforts, some successful, to procure nuclear related and dual use equipment and materials by military related individuals and entities

2)Efforts to develop undeclared pathways for the production of nuclear material

3)The acquisition of nuclear weapons development information and documentation from a clandestine nuclear supply network

4)Work on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components 

The report findings, which had been expected after excerpts where leaked to various news agencies over the past few days, will likely get wide and repeated use as evidence of Iran’s nuclear aims as US and Europe attempt convince the international community to further isolate the regime in Tehran. 

Iranian authorities deny they are developing their nuclear program for military purposes and allege Western countries are using the issue to push their own political interest. 

Iranian broadcaster Press TV says the country’s government has rejected the report as “unbalanced” and “politically motivated”. 

The Russian Federation has reportedly also criticized the IAEA report. Bloomberg News is reporting that an emailed statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry argues that the IAEA findings are politically dishonest, and that the timing of the reports undermines security in the region. 

The IAEA says information for the report was collected from independent sources, IAEA officials, the Iranian government and from more than 10 other unidentified UN member states. 

House Dem Urges Supercommittee To Look At Nukes

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called on the Super Committee  at a news conference on Tuesday to make extensive cuts from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over the next decade.

“The Soviets are long gone yet the stock piles remain,” Markey said, pointing out that there are currently 5,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile that cost American tax payers $50 billion every year. 

“That makes no sense,” Markey declared. 

When asked by TRNS about the very real threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons, he passed the question along to General Robert Gard Jr., chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

“We are not going to stop Iran from enriching Uranium by maintaing 5000 nuclear weapons in your stockpile,” Gard explained. “Getting down to 1000 nuclear weapons to deploy ought to be a sufficient warning to them that they probably ought not to imploy the weapons should they develop it.”

“We cannot make ourself any safer with more nuclear weapons,” Markey added. “America needs another nuclear weapon as much as Lady Gaga needs another outfit.” 

Markey advocated that the “excess” money used for nuclear weapons would be better utilized in funding for cancer and heart disease research institutions, healthcare for senior citizens and child nutrition programs.  

65 members of the House of Representatives have joined with Markey in this effort to cut $20 billion annually from the nuclear weapons program so that $200 billion could be used for funding family programs. 

“Simply put,” Markey concluded, “we must freeze the nukes and fund the future.”

Click here to see photos from today’s news conference