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US Warships in Gulf for Show of Force
The U.S. Navy has staged a show of force off Iran’s coast soon after the UN nuclear watchdog has said Iran has not only ignored a UN Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment but expanded its nuclear activities. The United States is determined to seek greater pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions after the UN confirmed existing sanctions are not working.
Iran defied another 60-day UN deadline, which will expose it to tougher sanctions over its nuclear work. “Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report presented by its chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Wednesday. “Iran has continued with operation of its pilot fuel enrichment plant and with construction of its [planned industrial] enrichment plant.” The IAEA also said its “level of knowledge of certain aspects of Iran’s nuclear-related activities has deteriorated.”
The United States looks determined to seek greater pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. “It is clear that what we have done so far has not been enough,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters. “The time has come to take a look at additional pressure, to ratchet up the pressure to bring about a change in the Iranian calculation.”
Meanwhile, the United States is formally seeking an explanation from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei about his comments to the media on how to deal with Iran. The purpose of sanctions to block nuclear-fuel-making knowledge “has been overtaken by events,'” ElBaradei told the New York Times last week. “We believe they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich,'' ElBaradei said in the interview. “From now on, it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge. People will not like to hear it, but that's a fact.”
While there is still no threat of military action, the U.S. Navy has beefed up its presence off the Iranian coast, opening exercises in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday involving two aircraft carrier groups and ships carrying 17,000 marines.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 24, 2007
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