WASHINGTON (Agencies)
Iran is not close to having a nuclear weapon, which gives the United States and others time to try to persuade Tehran to abandon its suspected atomic arms program, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.
"They're not close to a stockpile, they're not close to a weapon at this point, and so there is some time," Gates said on NBC television's "Meet The Press."
Gates' comments followed a televised interview with Adm. Mike Mullen, head of the U.S. military Joint Chief of Staff, who told CNN's "State of the Union" that he believed Iran has enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb.
The United States suspects Iran of trying to use its nuclear program to build an atomic bomb, but Tehran insists it is purely for the peaceful generation of electricity.
" And Iran having nuclear weapons... is a very bad outcome -- for the region and for the world " U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen Gates said there has been "a continuing focus on how do you get the Iranians to walk away from a nuclear weapons program" in the Obama and Bush administrations.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration favors diplomatic engagement with Tehran to defuse the dispute over its nuclear intentions, but has called Iran's nuclear program an "urgent problem" the international community must address.
The challenge, Gates said, is finding a balance between sanctions to pressure Iran and incentives for engagement with the U.S. and Europe. A sharp decline in oil prices since last year increases the chances for a resolution. "There are economic costs to this program; they (the Iranians) do face economic challenges at home." |
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Enough fuel for a bomb " They're not close to a stockpile, they're not close to a weapon at this point, and so there is some time " U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mullen said earlier that the United States believes Iran has stockpiled enough nuclear fuel to make a bomb.
"We think they do, quite frankly," Mullen said on CNN's "State of the Union" program when asked whether Iran has enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
"And Iran having nuclear weapons, I've believed for a long time, is a very bad outcome -- for the region and for the world," Mullen said.
A watchdog report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency two weeks ago said Iran had built up a stockpile of nuclear fuel, raising alarm among Western governments that Tehran might have understated by one third how much uranium it has enriched.
The IAEA report showed a significant increase in Iran's reported stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) since November to 1,010 kg -- enough, some physicists say, for possible conversion into high-enriched uranium for one bomb.
The IAEA later said Iran was cooperating well with U.N. nuclear inspectors to help ensure it does not again understate the amount of uranium it has enriched, suggesting the uranium accounting shortfall might not have been deliberate evasion. |
