Former US Assistant Secretary Of State:

By: Hamdollah Emadi Heidari

It’s Iran right to question Israel N-Arsenal

James Dobbins, Assistant Secretary of State under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W.Bush Presidents and the director for the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation in an exclusive interview with Siasat Rooz daily said:” I think it’s perfectly appropriate for Iran to raise questions about Israel Nuclear Arsenal.

Following is the text of the interview:

Can the proposed Iranian package solve the Nuclear Struggle between Iran and the West?

It depends very much on what the Iranian proposals consists of, if the Iranian proposals contain new elements it could lead to serious dialogue. I think the Obama administration would like to enter in to a serious dialogue on these issues and indeed on other issues with Tehran but if the Iranian package does not contain new elements there would be a sense of disappointment and I expect the 5+1 group will begin to consider further economic sanctions.

Are sanctions useful for stopping Iran from continuing his peaceful nuclear activities?

I think it depends on what one mean by economic sanctions do they work, certainly economic sanctions were very important in denying Saddam Hussein capacity to threaten his neighbors and the economic sanctions extended from 1991 till 2003 very severely weekend Saddam military capacity, so they can work provided they are generally applied that is that they have brought international support. Unilateral sanctions by only the US and some small countries are likely to be much less effective.

Do you see any real differences between Obama approach and the former presidents’ approaches?

I think that Obama has made clear that he is prepared for an unconditioned dialogue with the Iranian government and I think that is different from the Bushed administration’s approach which was to establish conditions for such a kind of dialogue although, I think the objectives are largely the same but there is a greater openness to dialogue and perhaps to compromise.

Why talks between Tehran and US halted during the past 6 month’s?

Unfortunately at least for the first half of this year, the government in Tehran was not ready to engage in such a kind of dialogue, it was probably focused on internal politics preparations for the Iranian presidential elections. It, therefore postponed any serious response to Obama’s overtures; since then the Controversy over the presidential elections has probably further complicated any discussions within the Iranian government and how to response to Obama’s overtures. So I think every body would be very interested to see whether this new Iranian proposal contains new elements. I think that the allegations against US and other countries were instrumental and the protests which took place in Iran over the recent elections in Tehran were much exaggerated. I think that there is absolutely no bases for believing that US has that kind of influence or is capable of projecting and controlling that kind of influence in to Iran. Certainly Washington supports in a general way the promotion of democracy not just in Iran but eventually in all countries.

Why US do not accept the IAEA reports about the peaceful identity of Iran’s nuclear activities?

The IAEA has raised questions about Iranian nuclear activities and has not be fully satisfied by the Iranian responses and that the assessment in Washington and other capitals is that Iran is at the minimum trying to develop the technology and sophistication and level of sophistication which would allow it to build nuclear weapons if its to choose to do so. Actually, the question of whether it has chosen to make a nuclear bomb is uncertain and there is concern about that not in Washington but much more generally. In terms of whether or not to require Iran or to ask Tehran to avoid certain activities, basically there are Security Council resolutions which are the force of low.Iran had signed the UN charter the UN charter allows the security council to make resolutions which all nations are required to adhere to by the terms of the un charter which IRI assigned.So the Iran is bound not only by the NPT agreement but by the UN charter and the UN charter requires it to conform to Security Council resolutions.

What is your idea about the current nuclear discrimination against Iran and in favor of Israel?

I think its perfectly appropriate for Iran to raise questions about Israel Nuclear Arsenal, on the other hand ,Israel is not an NPT signatory,It never promised not to manufacturing nuclear weapons but IRI is a signatory and It did promised not to manufacture nuclear weapons, so the legal requirements on Islamic Republic are unfortunately more stringent than the legal requirements on Tel Aviv but it is a perfectly legitimate argument for Iran to ask that Israel should give up its nuclear weapons and if Tehran wanted to propose and pursue the creation of a nuclear free zone that encompass the entire ME including Israel, that would be a reasonable position for Islamic Republic to take.

What is your idea about making a Regional Concretion for enrichment in Iran?

I think if Iran were to propose that the enrichment facility run by a Concretion that would be a positive step in negotiations. I don’t know whether it finally would be accepted but I think it would be regarded as a positive move by Iran.I think, neither side is prepared in this stage to say what its final positions is and what it ultimately accepts. The real question is whether both sides are prepared to begin to make small Concertinos which ultimately can lead to agreement.

Does the Iranian political position for supporting resistance toward Israel, affected Iran and US Nuclear Conflict?

I think in judging and in the assessment of any potential thread that is always a combination of capabilities and that is what is the potential adversary capability and what is the potential adversaries intent; if the capabilities are high but the intent is benign then its not only a concern if the capabilities is low but the intents is not benign but malign then it not again a great concern because the capabilities are low; when the capability is high and the intent is negative, is considered malign, the concern is very high; so naturally any assessment of IRI’s potential thread is a combination of What Iran’s capabilities are and what Tehran intents are; And so Iranian statements and Iranian support for Hamas and Hezbollah, the statements of Iranian leaders that they want to eliminate the state of Israel, this kinds of indications of intent naturally factor in any assessment regarding the potential thread ,Tehran might pose along with capabilities.It’s the combination of the tow so yes there is countries like for instance Japan that could make a Nuclear Weapon, if it chose, it has that level of technology but nobody think It is likely to do so, it’s not considered a serious problem.other countries which have more questionable intents are more serious concerned and I am afraid Iran is in that custard.

Does a new sanction against Iran possible, while China and Russia support it?

China and Russia has both accepted security council resolutions which demands Iran stop enrichment, so China and Russia don’t support the enrichment, infract, they support association of enrichment. To agree of which they are prepared to and they had also accepted, a number of sanctions on IRI by reason of refusal to conform to those security council resolutions and now whether China and Russia will support more sanctions, we don’t know but they accepted sanctions that exist today and as far as I know they are planning the sanctions.

Iran President declared the Nuclear Struggle is finished, what is your idea?

In term’s of Ahmadinejad presented intentions ,first of all, The decision to whether go a head or not in Iranian nuclear program is not a decision for the president of Iran but for the supreme leader as I understand the Iranian constitutional, but that issue aside , I think the question is whether or not Islamic Republic and the courtiers with which negotiate can begin to make more steps that brings them together toward some compromise, if theIranian side position is this, no compromise will be possible and no further discussion is useful and then of course we won’t have an agreement. If IRI is willing to begin to make some small steps then I would hope that there would be movement on other side and perhaps an agreement.

What steps do you suggest for solving the Nuclear Struggle between Iran and the West?

There has been some suggestions that there should be a temporally halt in further enrichment and further sanctions to allow negotiations could resume.There are also,the idea of putting the enrichment facility under the control of a broader concretion.

As the first American Special Envoy for Afghanistan after 2001 attack, what’s your idea about the given up Washington-Tehran talks for cooperation in this region?

I think American and Iranian interest in Afghanistan are largely coincident and the same and US and IRI did cooperate quite closely in 2001; I think it was a mistake for the US to have rejected Iranian cooperate and further assistance in 2002 and I would hope that Iran and US could have a serious discussion about how to further stabilize Afghanistan.Iran has much to offer, It is a major aid donor to Afghanistan and its assistance is quite helpful.Iran, obviously has influence in Afghanistan which it can be used in a positive direction that help stabilize this country. Iran has strong trade relations with Afghanistan which again can help to stabiles that country and of course, Tehran has a strong interest in combating Afghan drug trade which is another possible area for cooperation.Iran and US, both have interests in stabilized peaceful Afghanistan and not because one is going to pay another one to cooperate but because both have the similar interests.

James Dobbins directs the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation and served as Assistant Secretary of State under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He was the Clinton administration’s special envoy to Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and Somalia and the Bush administration’s first envoy to Afghanistan