WarSclerotic

Defiant Iran vows to continue enrichment, dismisses sanctions as insignificant | The Times of Israel.

Ahmadinejad says international pressure will not slow down Tehran’s nuclear program

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (photo credit: AP/Bebeto Matthews)

Iranian officials said Tuesday that uranium enrichment would continue nearly unabated, despite Western sanctions aiming to quash their nuclear program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the sanctions could cause a short delay in Tehran’s nuclear program but would not slow it down substantially.

“The West is not happy with Iran’s progress” in various technological fields, including uranium enrichment (a possible pathway to nuclear arms), Iranian state TV quoted him saying.

At the same time, Iran’s atomic energy chief asserted that Tehran would continue to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity “as long and as much as” it deems necessary and despite international pressure, semi-official Iranian Press TV reported.

“The production of 20 percent enriched uranium for use in Tehran’s reactor is the Iranian nation’s right and it will defend this right,” Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoun Abbasi said.

“Twenty percent enrichment is not an issue for the Westerners to agree to or oppose or even to seek a stance on,” he added.

The remarks come days after Tehran again prevented visiting UN nuclear agency inspectors from visiting the Parchin military base near the Iranian capital. The International Atomic Energy Agency has linked the site to suspected secret nuclear weapons research. Iran denies that, insisting Parchin is only a conventional military facility.

The international community has repeatedly condemned Iran’s unsanctioned nuclear program, which is widely suspected to be intended for military purposes.

Last month, the IAEA reported that it “has become increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.”

Iran, however, denies those charges and claims the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Recent nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany — the P5+1 — have yielded no tangible results.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday, however, that Iran would “take measures which can lead to easing the IAEA concerns and you will witness its details, if we reach a comprehensive agreement which recognizes our rights” to a nuclear program, semi-official Iranian Fars news agency reported.

“We are seeking to reach all-out agreements in our talks with the IAEA and our country’s nuclear rights should be completely recognized in such an agreement and we should be able to utilize the know-how which includes (access to) the complete nuclear fuel cycle and enrichment for the development of the country and in line with peaceful purposes,” he said.

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Photo: Reuters

US: Hagel nomination irks pro-Israel conservatives – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Political figures criticize likely nomination of former Nebraska senator as defense secretary citing his refusal to recognize Hezbollah as terror organization, criticism of Israel

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – The possible nomination of Chuck Hagel as the US secretary of defense is sparking criticism among pro-Israel conservatives.

The former Nebraska senator and Vietnam veteran is considered the frontrunner to replace Leon Panetta and has been known to criticize Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in the US.

Hagel was the first Republican senator to publicly criticize the war in Iraq and has declined to endorse the use force against Iran if negotiations don’t persuade it to give up its nuclear program.

In 2009 he signed a paper urging President Barack Obama to advance a Hamas-Fatah unity government.

Hagel also refused to be included in AIPAC’s statements of support of Israel. In a 2006 interview with veteran diplomat Aharon Miller he claimed that “the Jewish lobby” intimidates many Americans.

“I have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because I don’t think it’s in the interest of Israel. I just don’t think it’s smart for Israel,” he said.

Hagel with Obama (Photo: AP)

“I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator,” he told Miller for his book “The Much Too Promised Land,” released in 2008.

“I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I’ll do that,” the ex-senator said.

Former AIPAC spokesman Josh Block told politico.com that Hagel’s record “speaks for itself, on issues like consistently voting against sanctions on Iran to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, refusing to call on the European Union to name Hezbollah – which has killed more Americans than any terrorist group in the world except al-Qaeda – as a terrorist organization.”

In his Wall Street Journal column, conservative journalist Bret Stephens wrote, “In 2002, a year in which 457 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, Mr. Hagel weighed in with the advice that ‘Israel must take steps to show its commitment to peace.’

“This was two years after Yasser Arafat had been offered a state by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David.”

Furthermore in 2006, Hagel accused Israel of “systematic destruction of an American friend – the country and people of Lebanon.”

In 2007, the former Nebraska senator voted against designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization.

‘Hagel’s views not unusual’

Conversely, Hagel’s nomination is being endorsed by the more liberal-leaning pro-Israel group J Street.

Daniel Kurtzer, a US ambassador to Israel under President George W. Bush is also supportive of Hagel’s nomination claiming his views on AIPAC are “far from unusual among lawmakers.

“Anybody who has ever talked to senators or congressmen behind closed doors knows you hear a lot of that,” Kurtzer told politico.com. “A lot of people won’t talk about that publicly, but Hagel talks about it in pubic. One can question whether it’s good politics from his standpoint, but it’s not a view that’s foreign on the Hill.”

Kurtzer described the criticism of Hagel’s policy views “terribly misguided.”

“I found him in all the years I served, including as ambassador to Israel, to be a supporter of Israel and a man also ready to discuss very frankly with the Israelis the concerns we had about certain Israeli policies,” he said.

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