Iran Rejects New U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Labeling It Propaganda

On Wednesday, the Iranian minister of Foreign Affairs, Manouchehr Mottaki, rejected the new American nuclear strategy, labeling it propaganda, and insisted that Washington fulfill its promise regarding nuclear disarmament.

“We regard the recent position and comments of the United States as propaganda . . . we urge the United States to fulfill its promise regarding nuclear disarmament throughout the whole world,” Mottaki said in a press conference in Teheran.

Similarly, he noted that nuclear arms are “the biggest threat” to peace and global security, and that the international community should treat the topic of nuclear disarmament as a highest priority.

Mottaki reiterated that Iranian nuclear activities are “solely peaceful.”

Also, he signaled that the next international conference on nuclear disarmament called “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One,” (scheduled to take place on the 17th and 18th of April in the Iranian capital) will drive nuclear disarmament on a global level.

The United States made its anticipated new nuclear strategy known on Tuesday, promising to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in American national security. At the same time the U.S. reaffirmed its obligation to dissuasion, an obligation expanded to include its allies.

The document that establishes nuclear politics, strategy, capabilities and the stance of the American force for the next 10 years also establishes a different path from that of Bush’s nuclear era. That era, in reality, impaired the limits against nuclear weapons and weakened the international system of nonproliferation.

Brazil believe that the sanctions could harden Iran’s position.

Brazil‘s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, affirmed that the temporary implementation of economic sanctions on Iran for the development of its nuclear program could result in a hardening of its position before the international community.

In a hearing before the Brazilian Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, Amorim insisted that the dialog with the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should continue. He also insisted that the proposed sanctions for a group of countries chosen by the United States should be repealed because they would be counterproductive.

The sanctions alternative for a regime like Iran, which has the tendency to become radicalized, will make positions more inflexible. The government will unite with the opposition in an uncompromising position in order to show that it did not surrender, he specified.

Amorim signaled that the sanctions would affect the poorest segment of the population, that which would be capable of generating a revolt, he warned.

Brazil defends Iran’s right to develop a nuclear program with peaceful purposes. The Brazilian president, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, who proposes to maintain an open channel of negotiations, will travel to Iran in May.

Amorim also noted that Tehran should soften its position and “cooperate in the most extensive form possible in favor of an agreement and accept the presence of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors (IAEA).”*

The minister said that the best guarantee that other countries do not initiate the fabrication of atomic weapons is in the disarmament of the nations.

“A single atomic bomb is already harmful. Israel has 200. The United States will have 1,500 after the reduction agreement it will sign with Russia. The United Kingdom has 400. When a country has one atomic bomb, other countries that consider themselves to be threatened feel they have the right to have one too,” he stressed.*

Brazil will defend that vision in the next Review Conference of the Treaty of Nuclear Non-Proliferation that will be carried out in the United Nations in May.

*Editor’s note: Quotations could not be verified.