Iran Mastering Ropes of Nuclear Detente without Nukes

US aide tells Israel sanctions on Iran need time
21 February, 2012 – Maan News Agency

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A top aide to US President Barack Obama told Israel’s leaders this weekend that there is still time for diplomacy to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the White House said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Israel might resort to a preemptive strike.

National security adviser Tom Donilon told Israeli officials that Washington shares their concern about Iran’s nuclear push but also stressed the need to let sanctions work, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“We certainly understand the heightened concern that Israel has given its geographic location and other circumstances that are involved here for Israel,” Carney told reporters, discussing Donilon’s visit and the White House view on Iran’s ambitions.

“Having said that, we believe that the approach this administration has taken has resulted in a level of consensus within the international community regarding Iranian behavior that has never been attained before that’s resulted in a level of punitive sanctions that have never been attained before … and that that has had an impact,” he said.

“We believe that there is time and space to attempt to resolve this peacefully.”

Iran says its nuclear program is meant to develop energy, not weapons.

But its recent shift of uranium enrichment to a mountain bunker and refusal to negotiate guarantees that the program is peaceful have raised security fears — particularly in Israel — and also stoked concerns about Gulf oil supplies.

Donilon was the latest in a series of high-level US officials who have traveled to Israel in recent weeks to impress US concerns over any attack on Iran.

James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, said last week he would soon visit Israel to discuss intelligence sharing.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who traveled to Israel last month, acknowledged in a weekend television interview that the two long-time allies have divergent views of the best course of action on Iran.

“I’m confident that (Israel’s leaders) understand our concerns that a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn’t achieve their long-term objectives,” Dempsey told CNN.

“I also understand that Israel has national interests that are unique to them. And, of course, they consider Iran to be an existential threat in a way that we have not concluded that Iran is an existential threat.”

Speculation has been growing that Israel may attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to set back the Islamic Republic’s weapons progress. …more