Iran was a prime topic of conservations when President George Bush met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — with Israel continue to urge Washington to keep diplomatic pressures on to assure Iran can’t develop a nuke.
According to the Israeli paper Ha’aretz:
A source in Sharon’s entourage said that Iran is sensitive to pressure, “and it is still possible to influence it.”
The Iranian issue was the main point of Monday’s discussion during the lunch Bush served at his ranch to Sharon and the Israeli officials who accompanied him. The premier’s military secretary, Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant, delivered a presentation with an analysis of the latest satellite imagery taken above Iran’s nuclear development facilities, explaining how those facilities have expanded since 2002.
Israeli intelligence assessments say that Iran is using the diplomatic freeze around its nuclear program to continue developing various elements necessary to acquire nuclear capability. At the same time, Iran is also believed to be keeping its promise to the European Triad – France, Germany and Britain – to suspend its uranium enrichment programs using the centrifuges it has built. But it is believed that the Iranians are developing other elements in their nuclear program, not covered by the promises to the Europeans.
Israel believes that the Iranians are not enriching uranium because of technical difficulties. “They are still missing some parts, but they are very close to achieving full capability to produce enriched uranium,” said a source in Sharon’s entourage.
So Iran is making all the right noises but working behind the scenes to develop the bomb — which Tel Aviv knows poses a special threat to Israel. MORE:
The Israeli position, presented to Bush, is that the current status quo is dangerous because it enables the Iranians to continue their efforts to produce the bomb.
There is concern in Israel that the Europeans will make do with the temporary suspension and avoid any pressure on Iran to halt the project completely. Iran could proceed quietly toward uranium enrichment and then create an international crisis enabling it to withdraw from the commitments it made to the Europeans and start accelerated production of fissionable material.
The EUROPEANS? That gullible? More:
Sharon wants the U.S. to pressure the Europeans to move the Iranian case to the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions on Iran. Israel wants the U.S. and Europe to set a clear timetable for halting the Iranian project, and to prepare for the coming crisis in such a way that would intensify the pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program.
The problem is the UN Security Council truly seems diminished in power due to the infighting over the war in Iraq, and the recent oil-for-food scandals at the UN haven’t increased its clout, either. Still, seaching for diplomatic ways to defuse the crisis isn’t a bad idea and — at least from what we’re being told publicly — that apparently is what Israel has in mind.
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.