US and Israeli officials differed over Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday, as Israel called for its effective dismantlement and the US suggested better safeguards could assure that it is peaceful rather than military in nature.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke as they began seven hours of talks that also covered Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed in July after a nearly three-year hiatus.
Hints of a possible US-Iranian rapprochement, including US President Barack Obama’s telephone call with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and revived nuclear talks between Tehran and six major powers, have unnerved Arab states and Israel, which see any potential Iranian nuclear arms program as a direct threat.
Photo: Reuters
“Iran must not have a nuclear weapons capability, which means that they shouldn’t have centrifuges for enrichment, they shouldn’t have a plutonium heavy water plant, which is used only for nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told reporters as he and Kerry began their talks. “They should get rid of the amassed fissile material and they shouldn’t have underground nuclear facilities, [which are] underground for one reason — for military purposes.”
He called Iran’s nuclear program the region’s foremost security problem.
The Islamic Republic says it is enriching uranium solely for electricity and medical treatments, not nuclear weapons, but its past concealment of sensitive activities from UN inspectors and continued restrictions on monitoring have raised suspicions.
Kerry, whose aides are exploring a diplomatic solution to rein in Iran’s nuclear activity, took a tack different from Netanyahu, suggesting Iran could show its program was peaceful by adhering to international standards adopted by other nations.
“It will be vital for Iran to live up to the standards that other nations that have nuclear programs live up to, as they prove that those programs are indeed peaceful,” he said as the two started a meeting at the US ambassador’s residence in Rome. “We will need to know that actions are being taken which make it crystal clear, undeniably clear, fail-safe to the world, that whatever program is pursued is indeed a peaceful program.”
The US has refused to rule out the possibility of taking military action against Iran, but US officials say they wish to test every avenue to resolve the issue before going down that path, which could destabilize the Middle East.
“Secretary Kerry reiterated President Obama’s determination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, even as we pursue a diplomatic course,” a senior US Department of State official said on condition of anonymity after the meeting ended.
Six global powers and Iran held talks last week in Geneva, Switzerland, on ways toward a diplomatic deal, their first such negotiations since the June election of Rouhani, a relative moderate, opened doors for compromise after years of escalating confrontation.
Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US are due to hold a second round of those talks with Iran on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, also in Geneva.
The senior US official said Kerry and Netanyahu had an “in-depth” discussion of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed on July 29. The US has said they aim to yield a peace deal within nine months, of which nearly three months have already passed.
The core issues in the more than six-decade dispute include borders, the future of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank where Palestinians seek statehood, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
Iran cites a right to refine uranium for peaceful purposes under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a 1970 global pact to prevent the spread of nuclear arms, but the US has said Iran does not automatically have that right under international law because, it argues, Tehran is in violation of its obligations under counter-proliferation safeguards.
A series of UN Security Council resolutions since 2006 has demanded that Iran suspend all enrichment and heavy water-related activities.
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