British and American officials are pooh-poohing reports that not only is an attack on Iran being planned by the United States but that it could involve tactical nuclear weaspons.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw isn’t mincing any words:
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he is “certain” that neither the U.S. nor Britain would preemptively attack Iran.
“We’re opposed to military action because there is no reason for it,” Straw said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. television today. “The idea of a nuclear strike on Iran is completely nuts.”
The New Yorker magazine reported that the U.S. may use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s suspected atomic weapons program and bring down President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government in its April 17 edition, citing interviews with unidentified military and intelligence officials. Today’s Washington Post reports that the planning is part of a strategy to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear program.
The U.S. government says a strike “isn’t on the agenda,” Straw said, adding that President George Bush has said he is keeping all options open. The situation would change if Iran attacked Israel or another country, Straw said.
“If Iran were to attack one of its neighbors, or threaten them in an imminent way, that’s a very different circumstance,” Straw said.
And the White House seemed to be trying to throw cold water on the report as well, the AP reports:
The White House is seeking to dampen the idea of a U-S military strike on Iran to destroy its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Instead, says counselor Dan Bartlett, “The president’s priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes.”But administration officials — from President Bush on down — have left open the possibility of a military response if Iran does not end its nuclear ambitions.
Several reports published today say the administration is studying options for military strikes. And one account even raised the possibility of using a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon to insure the destruction of Iran’s main centrifuge plant, at Natanz.
Bartlett tells The Associated Press: “Those who are drawing broad, definitive conclusions based on normal defense and intelligence planning, are ill-informed and are not knowledgeable of the administration’s thinking on Iran.”
And Iran? Tehran charges that the report is part of an American psychological warefare campaign:
‘‘This is a psychological war launched by Americans because they feel angry and desperate regarding Iran’s nuclear dossier,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.
Perhaps. There are a variety of scenarios that could be spun regarding the actual sourcing and intent of the sources who contributed to Seymour Hersh’s controversial report. Were they whistleblowers within the government? Dissident CIA operatives? Or were they trying to get the message out in a sensationalistic way to try and goose Tehran to moving to curtail its nuclear programs? The reason why the Hersh report has gained gotten such play is due to the unpredictability (some critics would say predictability) of President George Bush and his administration.
So on one hand, the White House could be pleased because no matter what Tehran has gotten a message. On the other, it’s clear that if the kind of strike Hersh outlines took place the already polarized United States would be polarized even more unless solid groundwork was laid by the White House to prepare the American public for an action that could have a variety of consquences…perhaps some of them on American soil.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.