Iran's regional ally Syria is operating more nuclear sites than generally assumed.
Energy Agency (IAEA) believes that Iran's regional ally Syria is operating more nuclear sites than generally assumed.
Iran
Speaking on IDF Radio on Wednesday, former intelligence chief Danny Yatom said that, in his estimation, only military action can now stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. At the same time, he added that the United States, and the free world in its wake, is "not willing to take the risks inherent in a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities." Yet, in Yatom's view, the free world must be made to understand that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hands of the Islamic Republic are a danger to all nations.
On the other hand, the French armed forces chief of staff, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, said on Thursday, "I don't think at this stage a military option is still available."
Answering questions following a lecture he delivered at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, Georgelin explained, "It is very difficult to plan a military operation in Iran, because we are not sure in one shot to be able to solve a problem, and if you fail in one shot, it is a catastrophe."
The French general also added that he believes it imperative for Western powers "not to let [Israel] strike alone, with all the risks it could entail." Instead, Georgelin said, the West should employ "financial pressure, economic pressure, political pressure" on Iran to deter its nuclear weapons development.
Also on Thursday, Iranian spokesman Ali Asghar Soltanieh said his country's nuclear program is not up for debate. Soltanieh declared: "Tehran is prepared to have fair and substantive talks about various problems, including the guarantee of access by all countries to nuclear energy and preventing the proliferation of nuclear arms. But these talks do not include Tehran's nuclear program and legal activities in this connection."
Syria
On another front among Israel's regional adversaries, Syria is believed to have established several secret nuclear development facilities that have yet to be exposed. According to the former US representative to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, the Syrians refused to grant the international nuclear watchdog agency access to several suspected nuclear facilities in the country. Damascus "claimed they were military sites," he said during an interview with Israel's Channel 10 news Thursday night. After Israel reportedly bombed a suspected nuclear reactor at Deir Azour in September of 2007, Schulte continued, the Syrians told IAEA inspectors that uranium particles at the site "came from Israeli bombs."
That Syrian evasiveness "gave us concern... gave the IAEA concern," according to Schulte.
Yet, IAEA Chairman Mohammed El-Baradei was not concerned about Syria, the former US envoy added. "He was mad at Israel, he was mad at the United States; he didn't express any discontent about Syria," Schulte said. "He sort of deplored Israel's unilateral action... [and] the late provision of intelligence, which was a direct slap at the United States."
While Syria's protests of innocence were intended to conceal what IAEA inspectors suspected was secret nuclear development activities, Iran is using negotiations and talks as cover for its continuing nuclear program, according to Schulte. "Iran is always trying to buy time," he said.