The US on Wednesday outlined how it would go about containing a nuclear-armed Iran by offering to arm and help defend US allies in the region.
In comments that hinted at growing resignation that Iran will develop nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered to extend a “defense umbrella” to allies that would neutralize any advantage Iran might seek by building a nuclear warhead. However, her comments, made in Thailand where she was attending a security conference, drew a quick rebuke from Israel, where a senior minister said it sounded like the US “had come to terms with a nuclear Iran.”
Clinton later insisted the US had not given up preventing Iran from developing a warhead and that she was not launching a new policy. However, it marked the first time a senior US official has publicly contemplated the option of containment if Iran were to succeed in building a nuclear weapon.
Such an option had been a taboo subject among US government officials and their British counterparts, who have insisted Iran would be stopped from constructing a warhead.
Iran says its nuclear program is not for military purposes and refuses to comply with UN Security Council resolutions calling on Tehran to suspend the enrichment of uranium. The impasse has grown into a crisis as the enrichment program has expanded over the past few years.
“We will still hold the door open [for negotiations], but we also have made it clear that we will take actions, as I have said time and time again, action working to upgrade the defenses of our partners in the region,” Clinton told Thai TV.
“We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment: that if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to develop the military capacity of those [allies] in the Gulf, it is unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won’t be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon,” Clinton said.
Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Tehran, said: “She’s implying that if Iran became a nuclear weapon state, then the US would develop their existing defense commitments and that the US would contemplate nuclear deterrence to protect Persian Gulf states.”
Clinton’s remarks appeared to be aimed at influencing the decisions being made in Tehran. She was also seeking to fend off an arms race in the Middle East, where the US’ Arab allies are nervous about a nuclear Iran and considering their own nuclear options.
However, her comments angered the US’ closest ally in the region, Israel, and drew an immediate riposte from Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor.
“I was not thrilled to hear the American statement ... that they will protect their allies with a nuclear umbrella, as if they have already come to terms with a nuclear Iran. I think that’s a mistake,” he told Army Radio.
The US position appears to reflect deepening US pessimism on Iran following last month’s presidential elections and the subsequent crisis, which has served to entrench hardliners in Tehran.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS