The Bush administration is urging Iran to learn a lesson
from the U.N.'s quick response to North Korea's nuclear-test claim.
In 2002, President Bush referred to Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an
"axis of evil." But while he relied on military force to oust Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein, who was suspected of seeking weapons of mass destruction,
Mr. Bush is continuing to focus heavily on diplomacy to deal with Iran and
North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
When North Korea announced last week that it had conducted a nuclear
test, the Bush administration was able to get a unanimous Security Council
resolution in a matter of days - an unusually quick response by the world
body. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says there is a
message in that resolution, not just for North Korea, but for Iran, as
well.
"I hope the lesson they learn is that, if they continue to pursue
nuclear weapons, they will face the same kind of isolation and
restrictions that we have just imposed on the North Koreans," said John
Bolton.
Speaking on CNN's Late Edition program, Bolton said Iran could avoid
that isolation, if it accepts the offer made several months ago by the
five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. That
offer, put forward with the blessing of the Bush administration, provides
a set of incentives to Iran, if it suspends its nuclear enrichment
activities.
"This is an unparalleled offer that President Bush's administration has
made that the Iranians spurned because they seem to be obsessed with the
idea of getting nuclear weapons," he said. "And as long as they pursue
that course, we will have to respond accordingly."
Iranian news reports quote President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying his
country will continue its nuclear program, despite what he called threats
and pressure from major world powers. He said demands that Iran suspend
nuclear enrichment activities are illegal. Iran maintains its nuclear
program is for the peaceful production of electricity.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the venue for diplomatic
action on Iran will once again be the Security Council, which passed a
resolution in July calling for Tehran to abandon uranium enrichment.
She
spoke on the Fox News Sunday television program.
"So, we are moving right along here from February when the IAEA - the
International Atomic Energy Agency - said it was not acceptable for Iran
to enrich and reprocess, through a resolution in July to a resolution now,
within, I think, a few weeks here that will begin to impose costs on Iran
for its continued enriching and reprocessing," said Condoleezza Rice.
Rice said work on a sanctions package has begun in various world
capitals, and will continue later this week in the Security Council.
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