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Thursday May 24, 10:13 AM
The United States threatened new UN sanctions to punish Iran's nuclear
drive as it ratcheted up tensions with the biggest display of naval
power in the Gulf in years.
A bristling US armada led by two aircraft carriers steamed into waters
near Iran for exercises Wednesday, hours before UN watchdogs said Iran
was expanding its uranium enrichment program in defiance of
international sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran continues
to enrich uranium -- which can provide fuel for civilian reactors but
also make nuclear bombs. That prompted warnings from US officials of further UN punishment unless
Iran curtails its nuclear development -- which the Islamic republic
insists is devoted to civilian energy. "Iran is once again thumbing its nose at the international community,"
US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said, even as US and Iranian
envoys prepared for historic talks on Iraqi security in Baghdad next Monday. Iran denied obstructing IAEA inspections, but White House national
security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the report by the United Nations
atomic watchdog was damning. The IAEA assessment "is a laundry list of Iran's continued defiance of
the international community and shows that Iran's leaders are only
furthering the isolation of the Iranian people," he said. The US Navy said the Gulf exercises were not directed at Iran but
Mustafa Alani, senior analyst with the UAE-based Gulf Research Center,
said it was no coincidence the powerful flotilla arrived on the day of
the IAEA report. "The aim of this step, which coincides entirely with the end of the UN
deadline (to suspend enrichment), is to send a clear message to Iran
that a military option is available to Washington," Alani said. The carriers USS John Stennis and USS Nimitz sailed through the Strait
of Hormuz into the Gulf along with a helicopter carrier and amphibious
assault ships carrying an estimated 2,200 marines. "We do maritime security operations here to reassure friends in the
region of our commitment, and certainly this is a viable commitment and
a visible one that helps security and stability in the waters here,"
said Commander Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. "From a historic point of view we haven't done this type of operation
with this number of ships in a couple of years at least," Aandahl said.
"I guess what's significant here is them all coming at the same time." In January, Washington said it planned to keep two carrier battle groups
in the Gulf for months -- the first such deployment since 2003. Alani said a sudden, unexpected outbreak of hostilities between the
United States and Iran could be triggered by events in Iraq. Ahead of Monday's talks, the United States said Iran was escalating a
proxy war against US forces in Iraq as the two nations sparred verbally
over a number of their nationals being detained by each other. From Baghdad, US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell told
CNN there was "very credible intelligence" that Shiite-majority Iran was
funding Sunni extremists in Iraq, including for roadside bombings
against US troops. Three days after the Baghdad meeting, at the behest of the UN Security
Council's five permanent members plus Germany, European Union foreign
envoy Javier Solana is to hold talks with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali
Larijani. Burns said Solana would renew a year-old offer from the powerful nations
for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment in return for cooperation on
nuclear energy. "Should it turn down the offer again, I would think what you'd see is a
strong drive" by the six powers "for a third sanctions resolution," he
said.
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