Cordesman/Wilner, Iran & The Gulf Military Balance
AHC 6/3/12
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“I very much appreciated the fact that President Obama reiterated his position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that all options are on the table. I also appreciated the fact that he made clear that when it comes to a nuclear armed Iran, containment is simply not an option, and equally in my judgment, perhaps most important of all, I appreciated the fact that he said that Israel must be able to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. I appreciate all his statements and I look forward to discussing them further with President Obama tomorrow.”79
March 2, 2012, Prime Minister Netanyahu followed up on his response by making explicit demands regarding Iran’s uranium stockpile, and warned the international against further talks and negotiations with Iran: “Right now, Iran is feeling the pressure from the economic sanctions, and it could try to evade that pressure by entering talks… I think the international community should not fall into this trap. I think the demands on Iran should be clear: Dismantle the underground nuclear facility in Qom, stop enrichment inside Iran and get all the enriched material out of Iran. And when I say all the material, I mean all the material.”80
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements make it clear that the Israeli leadership seeks not only halt to nuclear activity, but the surrender of Iran’s enriched uranium and nuclear material. President Obama reiterated his stated policy on Iran’s nuclear program on March 4, 2012 in a speech to an AIPAC conference: A nuclear-armed Iran is completely counter to Israel’s security interests. But it is also counter to the national security interests of the United States. Indeed, the entire world has an interest in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A nuclear-armed Iran would thoroughly undermine the non-proliferation regime that we have done so much to build. There are risks that an Iranian nuclear weapon could fall into the hands of a terrorist organization. It is almost certain that others in the region would feel compelled to get their own nuclear weapon, triggering an arms race in one of the most volatile regions in the world. It would embolden a regime that has brutalized its own people, and it would embolden Iran’s proxies, who have carried out terrorist attacks from the Levant to southwest Asia. ...And so from my very first months in office, we put forward a very clear choice to the Iranian regime: a path that would allow them to rejoin the community of nations if they meet their international obligations, or a path that leads to an escalating series of consequences if they don't. In fact, our policy of engagement - quickly rebuffed by the Iranian regime – allowed us to rally the international community as never before, to expose Iran’s intransigence, and to apply pressure that goes far beyond anything that the United States could do on our own. Because of our efforts, Iran is under greater pressure than ever before. Some of you will recall, people predicted that Russia and China wouldn’t join us to move toward pressure. They did. And in 2010 the U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly supported a comprehensive sanctions effort. Few thought that sanctions could have an immediate bite on the Iranian regime. They have, slowing the Iranian nuclear program and virtually grinding the Iranian economy to a halt in 2011. Many questioned whether we could hold our coalition together as we moved against Iran’s Central Bank and oil exports. But our friends in Europe and Asia and elsewhere are joining us. And in 2012, the Iranian government faces the prospect of even more crippling sanctions.
“Amanpour: Israeli Restraint a Tough Challenge for Obama.” CNN March 5, http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/05/world/meast/obama-netanyahu-iran-amanpour/?hpt=hp_t3 79
2012.
Trifunov, David. “A nuclear Iran threatens entire world, Netanyahu says.” Globalpost.com. March 2, 2012. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120302/nuclear-iran-threatens-entireworld-netanyahu-says 80
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