The top-ranking United States senator on Monday downplayed as ”overstated” media reports saying US President George Bush was planning military options to knock out Iran’s nuclear programme, but stopped short of denying them outright.
”We believe there has been much overstatement in the American press over the last several days with regard to the use of military force in Iran,” Senate majority leader Bill Frist said at a news conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
His comments were in response to a question on the credibility of a story published in The New Yorker magazine asserting that the Bush administration is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key suspected Iranian nuclear-weapons facility.
The story was dismissed on Sunday by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as ”completely nuts” and was met with alarm by prominent critics of the Bush administration in the US.
Frist, who despite his senior rank as a US lawmaker would probably not be privy to such sensitive military planning if it were in progress, did not flatly deny the reports and instead took a tough tone against Iran.
”Iran has been violating its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations and has pursued an illicit covert nuclear weapons programme for as much as 20 years,” he said.
”It is in no one’s best interest for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. The nuclear issue is now before the United Nations Security Council and we look forward to continuing to work with Russia in taking whatever diplomatic actions necessary to end Tehran’s dangerous ambitions,” Frist said.
The US says it suspects Tehran is using a nascent civilian nuclear energy programme as cover to secretly develop nuclear weapons — a charge the leadership of the Islamic republic denies.
The UN Security Council on March 29 gave Iran 30 days to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and called on the head of the UN atomic monitoring agency to report on Tehran’s compliance at the end of that period.
Iran has so far given no indication that it intends to comply. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, promised there would be some ”good nuclear news soon”. He did not elaborate. — AFP
