US Secretary of State Colin Powell has refused to rule out the use of military force against Iran to prevent it from pursuing its nuclear arms program.
Speaking at a press conference in New York yesterday, Powell said that, in his talks with his Israeli opposite number Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom, he had not discussed attacking Iran but rather the use of diplomatic means of persuading Teheran to dispel the international community's fears about its nuclear program.
"I am not aware of any plans to attack Iran," Powell said, but added, "Every nation has all options available to it…We're talking about diplomacy and political efforts to stop this movement on the part of the Iranians toward a nuclear weapon and we're not talking about strikes. But every option always of course remains on the table."
The timing of Powell's remarks, shortly after it became known that the US had decided to sell Israel a large quantity of "bunker busting" bombs, immediately made observers judge that Washington was stepping up pressure on Iran.
In a separate press conference, Shalom said that Iran would never abandon its plan to develop a nuclear weapon. "They are trying to buy time, and the time is come to move the Iranian case to the Security Council in order to put an end to this nightmare," he said.
Shalom said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told him in their meeting yesterday that if Iran failed to fulfill its obligations to the international community, the matter would be submitted to the Security Council in November.
On the subject of the Palestinians, Powell said that Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia had to take the reigns of government in the Gaza strip into his hands after Israel's planned withdrawal from the area.
"This is the only way to make progress," Powell said, "Chairman Arafat is not able to act in this manner, and therefore we continue to encourage him to give authority to a prime minister."
A meeting of representatives of the quartet sponsoring the Road Map to Peace - the foreign ministers of the US, the EU, and Russia, and a representative of the UN - that took place in New York yesterday yielded a pessimistic assessment. In the spirit of US President George Bush's speech t the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, the statement issued after the meeting called on Israel to freeze settlements, and said that lack of action on Israel's part in this respect was "a source of concern."
The statement also expressed concern over the route of the separation fence, and mentioned the finding of the International Court of Justice at the Hague that the stretches of the fence built on Palestinian territory were illegal.
At the same time, the statement expressed support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, but stressed that it had to be consistent with the Road Map as a step aimed at ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967.
The quartet representatives called on the Palestinian Authority to introduce security reforms so that it would be able to meet its obligation to put a complete end to violence and terror.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on September 23, 2004