WarSclerotic

The United States is pleased by some positive signs of cooperation from Iran regarding the latter’s contentious nuclear program, a senior official in the Obama administration said Sunday.

“For now, things are moving in the right direction,” U.S. President Barack Obama’s national security adviser James Jones said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

“The fact that Iran came to the table and seemingly showed some degree of cooperation is a good thing,” Jones told CNN.

“Clearly, on non-proliferation, whether it is North Korea or Iran, the world is sending its own message to both countries and fortunately we are seeing some positive reaction to that,” Jones said.

Jones made the comment after word from the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency that international inspectors would visit Tehran’s newly revealed uranium enrichment site on October 25.

Asked whether Iran was closer to having a bomb, Jones said: “No, we stand by the reports that we have put out.”

“What has happened with regard to Iran in the last couple of weeks has been very significant,” Jones said, pointing to the Iranian decision to open a new uranium enrichment facility near the holy Shi’ite city of Qom for inspection.

The U.S. and other world powers are still looking for answers in the short term, Jones said, adding that it would not likely take extended discussions before the U.S. and others decided on their bext step.

Also on Sunday, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that Washington and other veto-holding permanent members in the United Nations Security Council were studying sanction options if Iran does not prove its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Rice also said the so-called P-5 + 1 is in a period of intense negotiations with Tehran, but that Iran had a finite period to completely open its nuclear program to international inspections. She refused to set a deadline.

Rice said the United States had three options: to push sanctions through the UN, to work with European allies to punish Iran, or to take unilateral action in conjunction with the other possible courses of action.

Rice spoke Sunday on NBC television’s Meet the Press.

UN watchdog to inspect Iran nuclear site Oct. 25

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Sunday said inspectors would be examining Iran’s recently revealed nuclear facility on October 25.

Head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Mohammed ElBaradei, said Sunday that inspectors would be examining Iran’s recently revealed nuclear facility on October 25.

ElBaradei spole in Tehran following talks with Iranian officials over a recently revealed uranium enrichment facility that has caused consternation around to world over the extent and purpose of Iran’s nuclear program.

At the news conference Sunday, ElBaradei said that Iran’s relations with the West were moving from “conspiracy” to “cooperation” and that the nuclear dispute could be resolved through diplomacy.

“It is important for us to send our inspectors to have a comprehensive verification of the facility and to make sure that it is for peaceful purposes,” he said. “We agreed that our inspectors will inspect the site on the 25th of October.”

ElBaradei, who sat alongside Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, said talks had been a success and he saw the possibility of defusing the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear program.

“We need transparency on the part of Iran and we need cooperation on the part of the international community,” he said, describing a shifting of gears in relations between Iran and the western powers.

Revelations that Iran had a second, previously unknown, site to refine uranium has raised new international fears over the purposes of the nation’s nuclear program.

The U.S. and its allies say Iran’s program is seeking nuclear weapons while Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.

Addressing the issue of the recently revealed nuclear site at Qom, ElBaradei said that “Iran should have informed us the day they decided to construct the facility … Iran has a different view on that but the agency view was that,” he said.

He said Salehi would visit the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on October 19, ahead of the inspectors visit to Iran.

“It is important for us to have comprehensive cooperation over the Qom site. We had dialogue, we had talks on clarification of the facility in Qom, which is a pilot enrichment plant,” ElBaradei said.

He said there was no “concrete proof” that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability but the IAEA remained concerned over the possibility.

“I continue to say today that the agency has no concrete proof that there is an ongoing weapons program in Iran. There are allegations that Iran has conducted weaponization studies. However, these are issues that we are still looking into,” ElBaradei said, speaking in English.