Gates says diplomacy is working with Iran
He cited "the united front of the international community," in words that seemed designed to dismiss talk that the U.S. was going to attack.
TEL AVIV, Israel - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program were working and should be given a chance to succeed.
Both the United States and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies. Gates said many nations were "united in telling Iran what it needs to do with respect to its nuclear program."
The United States and its allies have led efforts to pass two U.N. Security Council resolutions punishing Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. That process can be used to develop nuclear weapons.
"We agreed it was important to deal with the Iranian nuclear problem through diplomacy, which appears to be working," Gates said at a news conference with Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
"These things don't work overnight," Gates said, "but it seems to me clearly the preferable course to keep our focus on the diplomatic initiatives, and particularly because of the united front of the international community at this point."
His words appeared aimed at dismissing suggestions in Israel and the United States that the Pentagon was moving toward a strike against Iran.
At the same time, Gates confirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel, noting that he was the first Pentagon chief to visit the country in eight years.
"I think the fact that I have come here in the end of my fourth month as secretary illustrates the importance that I attach to our relationship with Israel," he said.
Discussing Iraq, Gates decried the attacks yesterday in Baghdad, which killed more than 180 people. The violence, he said, was "horrifying," and he blamed al-Qaeda.
He said the attackers were trying to show that the U.S. security plan for Baghdad was failing. "These terrorists are killing innocent men, women and children who are Iraqis," Gates said. "They're killing their countrymen."
Earlier, in Cairo, Egypt, Gates hewed to the Bush administration's line that any U.S. military failure in Iraq would unleash sectarian strife and extremism that would be felt first in the Middle East.
U.S. military officials, meanwhile, have stepped up their criticism of Iran, saying this week for the first time that Iranians were involved in providing weapons to Afghanistan.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that U.S. forces recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons intended for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Military officials have said for months that Iranians were supplying weapons and training to insurgents in Iraq.
Asked about the latest development yesterday, Gates said the United States did not know the magnitude of the problem or to what level in the Iranian government it rose.
He said it was "troublesome and worrisome that the Iranians may be deciding to counter the efforts of some 42 nations in Afghanistan trying to help the government establish a strong democratic state. So we'll watch it very closely."
U.N. Agency Says Iran Is Enriching Uranium
Iran is delivering small amounts of uranium gas to centrifuges that can enrich it to weapons-grade level and is running more than 1,300 centrifuge machines, says an International Atomic Energy Agency document obtained yesterday by the Associated Press.
The confidential document - a letter dated April 18 to Iranian officials from a senior staff member at the International Atomic Energy Agency - also protests an Iranian decision to prevent agency inspectors from visiting the country's heavy-water facility, which, when built, will produce plutonium. Enriched uranium and plutonium can both be used
for the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran says it wants to enrich uranium only to lower levels to generate nuclear power. Suspicions about its ultimate intentions have led to U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze its enrichment program.
- Associated PressEndText