US plays down immediate Iran nuclear threat

By P. Parameswaran

Agence France Presse

July 9, 2008

The United States on Wednesday played down concerns about any immediate dangers from Iran's nuclear program but warned that the world was prepared to confront challenges posed by the Islamic republic's "provocative" policies.

"While Iran seeks to create the perception of advancement of its nuclear program, real progress has been more modest," said William Burns, the top official handling Iranian issues at the State Department.

The UN Security Council has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran for not suspending its uranium enrichment activities, which world powers fear could be used to make a nuclear weapon.

Washington has been in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to impose the sanctions and lawmakers attending a Congressional hearing in which Burns testified Wednesday persistently raised concerns about Iran's nuclear threat.

"Iran daily inches closer to the point where it can produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make a nuclear bomb," warned Howard Berman, the chairman of the House of Representatives foreign affairs panel.

"No one knows precisely when that will happen, but most experts say it will be soon," he said. "Some predict as early as the end of this year."

But Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, said Iran had not yet mastered uranium enrichment efforts, thanks to UN sanctions.

"It is apparent that Iran has not yet perfected enrichment, and as a direct result of UN sanctions, Iran's ability to procure technology or items of significance to its missile programs, even dual use items, is being impaired," he told the hearing on the "strategic challenge posed by Iran."

In addition to limiting Iran's access to proliferation sensitive technologies and products, Burns said key officials involved in Iran's procurement activities had been "cut off" from the international financial system and restricted from travel.

Iran's banks were also being pushed out of their "normal spheres of operation, he said.

Amid international concerns after Iran test-fired a long range missile it said was capable of reaching key US ally Israel, Burns asked the Islamic republic to seriously reconsider its "provocative" policies and move towards a "cooperative and constructive" path.

"Until that time, however, the US and the international community remain committed to meeting the challenges posed by Iran," he said as lawmakers also highlighted Iran's missile threat.

Iran on Wednesday test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are aimed solely at generating energy but the West fears could be aimed at making an atomic bomb.

The United States has never ruled out military action against Iranian atomic facilities.

Berman said that the threat posed to Israel by a nuclear Iran would be "existential."

"There are optimists who believe that Iran, were it to acquire nuclear arms, could be deterred, just as the Soviets were, but given the martyrdom mentality of the Iranian leadership, one cannot be sure," he said.

Burns called for "tough minded diplomacy, maximizing pressure on the Iranians at multiple points to drive home the costs of continued defiance of the rest of the world, especially on the nuclear issue."