16 February 2010

Concern Grows over Potential for Middle Eastern Nuclear Arms Race

Secretary Clinton, left, speaks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal during her visit to Riyadh February 16.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrapped up a three-day Gulf diplomatic mission after consultations with key Middle Eastern leaders in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference as well as with regional business leaders and college students.

Clinton told Saudi college students February 16 that the long-term goal of the United States is to see the entire Middle East, including Iran, free of nuclear weapons. Her speech echoed a theme set by President Obama in a speech in April 2009 in Prague in which he called for a future time when the world would be nuclear free. It is a sweeping foreign policy goal he set in talks with his Russian counterpart, President Dmitry Medvedev, in several meetings in London and Moscow, and is a theme for which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

“If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, that hope disappears because then other countries which feel threatened by Iran will say to themselves, ‘If Iran has a nuclear weapon, I better get one, too, in order to protect my people,’” Clinton said. “Then you have a nuclear arms race in the region.”

“Everyone who I speak with in the Gulf, including the leaders here and leaders elsewhere in the region, are expressing deep concern about Iran’s intentions,” Clinton added in a speech at the all-women Dar al-Hekma College in Jeddah.

Clinton began her trip in Qatar February 14 with a speech before the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, followed by an engagement with students in Education City. She continued on to Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Between official meetings when she travels, the secretary often holds town hall meetings that involve direct contact with college students. Clinton meets with a wide range of civil society groups, women’s groups and students as part of an effort to reach out to those who often don’t have direct contact with senior U.S. officials.

Clinton told the Saudi women that the United States has worked to launch a new relationship with Iran based on diplomacy, and has sought to chart a path with Iran for a peaceful nuclear program within international safeguards. “But Iran has refused to reciprocate, and since October has refused every offer to meet with the [international] representatives on its nuclear program,” she said at a press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on February 15 in Riyadh.

While in Jeddah, Clinton met with Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

The United States has been working closely with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons development program. But Iran has responded to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it will start producing higher-grade enriched uranium, which Clinton called a “provocative move” in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“The Iranian government knows that this risks creating more regional instability and will result in increasing isolation,” she said. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Why are they doing this?’” Clinton said.

MIDDLE EAST PEACE

At her press conference in Riyadh, Clinton said the United States and Saudi Arabia share the goal of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. After meeting with Saudi King Abdullah, the secretary said they discussed how best to re-launch what she called “credible and productive negotiations” on the Middle East that will achieve both Palestinian and Israeli hopes.

“The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative is vital to the efforts necessary to promote a comprehensive peace, and it lays out a vision of a better future for all of the region’s people,” Clinton said. “It is time to renew its spirit today and to move toward specifics.”

The United States is convinced that in “good-faith negotiations” the Israelis and Palestinians can agree on an outcome that ends the ongoing conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent state based on the 1967 lines with the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that meet Israeli concerns, Clinton said.

While encouraging negotiations, Clinton said, the international community must also support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the Palestinian Authority to build a viable economy and state institutions necessary for a working and independent government that provides security, rule of law and essential services to the Palestinian people.

To underscore the U.S. efforts in the Middle East, deputy secretaries of state James Steinberg and Jacob Lew are being sent to the region for further consultations across a range of issues including the stalled Middle East peace process and Iran’s inadequate response to efforts to halt its nuclear development program.

Lew is slated to visit Egypt, Israel and Jordan beginning February 20, and Steinberg is traveling to Israel during the week of February 21. In addition, William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, is traveling to Lebanon February 16, Syria February 17 and Turkey on February 18, and concludes his travel in Azerbaijan on February 19.

During the week of March 8, Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will travel to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan for consultations on a full range of bilateral and regional issues, the White House announced. Vice President Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Abbas, Prime Minister Fayyad, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Jordanian King Abdullah II.