PUTIN TELLS IRAN THEY ARE GOING TO BOMB YOU
SEPT 29 2007
Putin tells Tehran: They're going to bomb you!"
In a sign that U.N. Security Council-based diplomacy is losing steam, a number of sources are reporting that a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities may be imminent.
France and America also are pushing for
tighter economic sanctions against Tehran, without U.N. approval.
Yesterday's edition of Le Canard Enchaîné, a French weekly known for its
investigative journalism, reported details of an alleged Israeli-American plan
to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. The frontpage headline read: "A report
sent to the Elysée Putin tells Tehran: They're going to
bomb you!"
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, also expressed concerns to
reporters in New York that an attack on Iran might be imminent.
Like most stories in the French paper, the article was based on unnamed
sources who said that in order to reduce casualties, the attack against Iran
is planned for October 15, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel
would bomb the first targets while America would orchestrate a second wave of
strikes, the report said
However, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who recently spoke of
preparing for war with Iran, berated reporters yesterday, telling them that he
had said war is the "worst option." Instead, he is now calling for "diplomacy,
diplomacy, diplomacy."
As foreign ministers representing the five permanent members of the Security
Council China, Russia, France, Britain, and America and Germany plan to sit
down Friday for a long-planned meeting to discuss ideas for addressing Iran's
refusal to end uranium enrichment, Mr. Kouchner told reporters that China and
Russia are likely to delay any significant decision until at least December.
"It would be very difficult to convince the Russians and the Chinese before"
December, he said. A Russian diplomat told The New York Sun on Monday that
Moscow would call on the council to await the conclusion of a new round of
diplomacy conducted by the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
Mohamed ElBaradei.
At a breakfast with reporters yesterday, Mr. Kouchner said he had "spent
hours" with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, trying to convince
him to approve council sanctions against Iran. Russia, Mr. Kouchner said, is
attempting to regain its top world status, while "we treat them, they told me,
like little adolescents."
Meanwhile, a former American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton,
indicated yesterday that President Sarkozy of France may be a more reliable
ally on Iran than Prime Minister Brown of Britain.
"It's not at all clear where Brown is at," Mr. Bolton told the Sun. "The
question is, ‘Will Britain follow in the footsteps of France?'" Either way,
Mr. Bolton said he did not invest too much hope in Security Council diplomacy.
Some American diplomats are saying the next phase of diplomacy with Iran may
involve a separate track of sanctions that would be imposed without Security
Council approval.
Mr. Kouchner said yesterday that the French government is trying to lean on
companies like the oil giant Total to end ties with Iran. Between 2005 and
2006, he said, French commerce with Iran was cut in half.
But an unnamed German government official told Reuters yesterday, "Unlike the
United States and the French, the German government is not ready to go outside
the U.N. for sanctions."
The official expressed doubts that Europe could reach a consensus on such sanctions. German companies such as Siemens, BASF, Mercedes, and Volkswagen maintain strong business ties with Iran.
In 2006, such companies reportedly exported goods worth $5.7 billion to Iran, up from $5 billion in 2004. In Vienna, Mr. ElBaradei is preparing a report that is not expected to be ready before December.
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly
earlier this week, President Ahmadinejad of Iran said the "nuclear issue of
Iran is now closed," and he said Tehran would stop dealing with the Security
Council and would negotiate only with the IAEA.
Mr. ElBaradei recently reached an agreement with Iran that allows it to report
on outstanding nuclear issues over a long period of time. The Iranians,
nonetheless, are "very, very, very firm that they don't want to stop
enrichment," Mr. Kouchner said yesterday.
Mr. ElBaradei, who is charged with reporting on technical nuclear issues, was
berated by Secretary of State Rice, who said the Tehran accords amounted to
conducting private diplomacy.
Before he became U.N. ambassador, Mr. Bolton sought to mount a campaign to
unseat Mr. ElBaradei. A former secretary of state, Colin Powell, "was never
enthusiastic about it," Mr. Bolton said yesterday.
"When Rice became secretary of state, the winds came out of the sails" of the campaign to unseat the IAEA director.
"Stopping him would have required a
lot of effort," Mr. Bolton said, but he added that Mr. ElBaradei's current
behavior on Iran "proves that it was worthwhile."
Prophecy News - End times Prophecy News for Russia, China, Iran, Bush, World, America, Iraq, Syria, North Korea,
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