Washington, July 17: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tried to portray Iran’s nuclear program as the greatest threat to international security, demanding a global action to curb the plan.
Gates, giving a downbeat assessment of Iran’s nuclear work, said that in his eyes Tehran’s development of nuclear technology was the main source of concern at the present juncture.
“Iran is the one that concerns me the most because there don’t seem to be good options (or a scenario) where one can have any optimism that good options will be found,” Gates told the Economic Club of Chicago on Thursday.
He went on to criticize what he called the ‘inability of the international community to affect their determination’ to bring to a halt Tehran’s disputed nuclear work.
Gates then went on to say that he has been trying to convince other nations in particular Russia that Iran is a threat to the whole world not merely the United States.
“Iran’s going to have the capability to deliver nuclear weapons to the people in their region a lot sooner than they’re going to have the capability to deliver them to us,” he added.
While the UNSC, under US pressure, has adopted three rounds of sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment work, Moscow disagrees to pile up pressure on Tehran and rejects any ‘violent solution’ to the issue. Russia says diplomacy could best solve the matter.
Washington and Moscow are also at loggerheads over the US plans to deploy 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic.
The White House says the plan is aimed at countering what it terms as “threats” from countries such as Iran. The Kremlin, meanwhile, believes that the plan threatens Russian security.
Washington has called on Moscow to join the US front to stop Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for abandoning its missile shield plan in Europe. Russia has rejected the offer.
The West, spearheaded by the US and Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuse Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, an allegation categorically rejected by both Tehran and UN nuclear watchdog.
The nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory, grants its members to develop peaceful nuclear activities.
Yukiya Amano, who is going to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei as the next IAEA Chief, said last week that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Tehran is enriching weapons-grade uranium.
—–Agencies