WarSclerotic

White House Press Briefing by Jay Carney, February 29, 2012.

Q And in light of the President’s pending speech at AIPAC and the visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu, I was talking to a national security expert who was telling me that he didn’t think that there had been enough of a discussion of what if Israel did launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities and things went wrong. And one of the issues he raised was the idea that Iran obviously borders Afghanistan and has stayed relatively — has stayed pretty much out of Afghanistan in terms of — compared to some of the things that it’s done in Iraq, for instance, in terms of arming the insurgents in Iraq. It has not done so in Afghanistan. And the official — the expert, rather, expressed concerns that if things went wrong then it would be possible that Iran might start helping to attack or at least arm insurgents in Afghanistan and try to kill American soldiers. In light of publicly discussing the things that could go wrong in such a strike, is that a concern being discussed here at the White House?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I would say two things about that. First, our approach to this has been to galvanize and mobilize the international community to make it clear that Iranian behavior is the issue, to pressure and sanction Iran for its failure to live up to its international obligations, and to ratchet up that pressure and increase the sanctions on Iran to the point where we hope Iran will change its behavior.

We believe that there is time and space to continue to pursue that approach, even as we refuse and make clear that we do not take any option off the table in our effort to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

It is certainly the case — and I think we have been clear about this — that any military action in that region threatens greater instability in the region, threatens — as you point out, because Iran borders both Afghanistan and Iraq — we have civilian personnel in Iraq, we have military personnel as well as civilians in Afghanistan. There are all sorts of potential consequences to more military activity in that region and in Iran specifically.

But our approach right now is to continue to pursue the diplomatic path that we’ve taken, combined with very aggressive sanctions, and we continue to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran. And I think it’s important to note that while Tehran does not and has not lived up to its international obligations, that it does not do the things it needs to do to demonstrate that it does not have nuclear weapons ambitions, we do have visibility into their programs and Iran has not broken out and started to pursue a weapon. So there is time and space to continue to pursue the policy that we have been pursuing since the President took office.

Q You just said that we do not believe that Iran has broken out to pursue a weapon. Is that why the administration is reluctant to outline when it may use a military option?

MR. CARNEY: Well, no. I think that we’ve made very clear that we do not take any option off the table as we pursue a policy designed to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. We believe that the policy that we’ve been pursing, unifying the international community and pressuring and isolating Tehran, creates the best opportunity for ensuring that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. It is the best option. And because there is time and space still to allow that option to work, we are continuing to pursue it.

But speculation about what we would do if this were to happen and what would trigger what response is not something I would do here from the podium, and it’s not productive to the success of our policy.

Q To clarify, is U.S. policy to prevent Iran from a nuclear weapon, or to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons capability?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I think I’ve been clear that we are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. We obviously monitor through IAEA inspectors their nuclear programs, and there is no question that Iran has not lived up to its international obligations with regards to uranium enrichment and their level of cooperation with the IAEA.

So the fact that we do have inspectors who are able to provide visibility into their programs does not mean that they have been entirely cooperative, because they have not. And it is Iran’s refusal to behave in accordance with their international obligations, to take the necessary steps to assure the international community that they do not have the intention of developing a nuclear weapons program and developing nuclear weapons, that they are subject to these broad and increasing sanctions by the United States and the entire international community. And that pressure will continue and it has had an effect on both the economy and on the political leadership.

Q Can you speak to some of the reports in the Israeli papers that Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to pressure President Obama to be more specific about these “all options on the table”? Will the President be more specific?

MR. CARNEY: The President is very specific and direct in his many conversations with the Prime Minister of Israel, and I’m sure that will be the case when they meet again next week. Our approach is very clear — and I do not expect that I or anyone else will engage in speculation about how we might react should something or the other happen in the future with regards to Iran’s program. So I think you’ll hear from us a very consistent message and I fully expect that the President’s conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu will continue to be as detailed and candid as they always have been.

Q And if Israel attacks Iran and Iran retaliates, will we defend Israel?

MR. CARNEY: That’s a couple of “ifs” down the road. What I can say is we have an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security. It’s a commitment that’s demonstrated by the unprecedented level of military-to-military and intelligence-to-intelligence service cooperation that we’ve established with Israel, a fact that has been testified to not just by Obama administration officials but by Israeli government officials, including the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister. And that level of cooperation will continue. We are absolutely committed to Israel’s security.

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