The Black Vault - Iran Says It Welcomes U.S. Nuclear Report

Iran Says It Welcomes U.S. Nuclear Report

TEHRAN, Dec. 4— The new assessment by American intelligence agencies that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 drew a variety of reactions today, with Iran welcoming it but Israel expressing deep skepticism and saying that for all it knew Iran had already revived its weapons-building program.

“It is natural that we welcome it,” the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, told state-run radio. “Some of the same countries which had questions or ambiguities about our nuclear program are changing their views realistically.”

But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Western countries should maintain their efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons in the future. "It is vital to pursue efforts to prevent Iran from developing a capability like this and we will continue doing so along with our friends the United States," he told reporters, Reuters reported.

The Israeli defense minister and former prime minister, Ehud Barak, said on Israeli army radio: “It seems Iran in 2003 halted for a certain period of time its military nuclear program but as far as we know it has probably since revived it.”

He added: “We can’t allow ourselves to rest just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the earth, even if it is from our greatest friend.”

The Israeli infrastructure minister, Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, said he “does not buy” the assessment that Iran has stopped building nuclear weapons and said that Israel should “not take any risks,” Reuters reported.

Israeli academics and analysts were cautious about the assessment and said that the fact that Iran is still enriching uranium — even if for civilian purposes — meant that it could still be turned to military use in the future.

The British government said it would continue to increase pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment, Reuters reported.

"We think the report’s conclusions justify the actions already taken by the international community to both show the extent of and try to restrict Iran’s nuclear program and to increase pressure on the regime to stop its enrichment and reprocessing activities," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted by the news agency as saying.

"It confirms we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons and shows that the sanctions program and international pressure were having an effect,” he said.

The report comes at a sensitive time, when the six powers involved in negotiating with Iran — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany — have decided to press ahead with a new United Nations Security Council resolution.

Iran had maintained since 2003, when it started negotiations with the three European countries, France, Germany and Britain, that its program was peaceful and not meant for military purposes. It insisted that it wanted to enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for its nuclear reactors.

However, the West had accused Iran of having a clandestine nuclear program. The Security Council has already imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran for its defiance to halt its enrichment program.

Iran was shocked this week when Chinese banks refused loans to Iranian businessmen, probably because of American pressure.

The head of the Iran-China chamber of commerce said Monday that over the past week Chinese state banks had refused to open a letter of credit for Iranian businessmen, the daily Etemad reported.

“The banks have not given any reason for these restrictions yet,” he said, adding that a trade delegation was in Beijing to discuss the restriction and that Iran’s central bank was also negotiating with the Chinese.

Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/world/middleeast/05webreact.html

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