Mark Fitzpatrick, IISS Disarmament director declares in an interview with Siasat Rooz:

Missile Defense Shield Has Not Been Canceled

Interview By:Hamdollah Emadi Heidari

The US government approach has been pradoaxical in recent years, and this paradox has grown more intense during Barak Obama’s administration. Different decisions made by Whitehouse policy makers prove this. One of the most important promises made by Obama during and after his election campaign was canceling the deployment of the missile defense shield in Eastern European countries, a promise which has not been really accomplished. However, Obama’s administration has declared officially that the shield plan has been cancelled. But Mark Fitzpatrick, Director of Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program for the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former US assistant secretary of state says this is not true.
In an exclusive interview with Siasat Rooz daily, Fitzpatrick said he believes that the proposed US missile defense shield in Eeastern Europe has not been cancelled but changed, to move it further south.
Fitzpatrick had previously served for four years at the US Mission to International Organization in Vienna and is fully aware of the US foreign policies, and what he says about Iran and its nuclear program in this short interview can be a clear proof of this fact that in contrary to Obama’s Change slogan, the US foreign policies
toward Iran has not been changed.
The proposal of the Deployment of US Missile Defense Shield has intensified the tensions between Russia and the US.
Kremlin believes it is dangerous for its security and threatened to deploy the same system on its borders with Europe. While US has the biggest Nuclear Arsenal and has not decreased them till now.
When he was asked about the new promises made by Obama’s administration in the case of making a world free from Nuclear Weapons, he said: President Obama has stated his commitment to the goal of a nuclear-weapons-free world, and he has taken concrete steps in this direction, starting with the negotiation of a START follow-on treaty under which American and Russian nuclear arsenals would be further reduced. Strengthening the non-proliferation measures of the NPT and the verification tools of the IAEA will also be important aspects of building a stable nuclear-weapons-free world in which no country need fear that another nation will suddenly break out and become the lone nuclear power.
About of the paradoxical statements posed by US officials about canceling the missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, He stated: The missile defence shield in Eastern Europe has not been cancelled, but it will be changed, to move it further south and to concentrate on capabilities to detect and destroy any short- or medium-range missiles fired by hostile countries.
Ansewring a question about making the missile defense shield near Israel he said: I do not think the primary purpose is to defend Israel, which has other means of defense.
While, many times, IAEA inspectors and it’s general secretary in different occasions have reported Iran Nuclear activities peaceful and the remaining ambiguities are not technical and are just some claims made by Israel and its supporters, in Expressing his analysis of the current talks between Iran and the West, Fitzpatrick, ignored Tehran cooperation with IAEA and 5+1 group. “Of all of Iran’s communications with the major powers to date, the 11 September package was the most disappointing. By refusing to even touch on the cause of the dispute, Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, the package provided no basis for finding a peaceful solution,” he claimed.
This former American official criticized Iran proposed package introduction about ‘peace and justice” and related it to Iran post election events.
Reviewing the past 5+1 group talks about Iran Peaceful Nuclear Energy, Director of IISS added: In New York last Wednesday, I assume the P5+1 expressed their common determination to persuade Iran to suspend the enrichment activity as a first step toward a peaceful solution.
Former US State department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation accused Iran of trying to make Nuclear Weapons and said: 5+1 representatives on 1 October will be united in asking Iran to stop he activity that is causing so much concern.
While Iranian officials had announced the process of building a second enrichment plant at Qom in a letter to Mohammad Albaradei several months befor it was released by media, Fitzpatrick claims that the “astounding news that Iran was secretly building a second enrichment plant at Qom will strengthen 5+1 determination and the revelation of the Qom plant is further proof that the main purpose of Iran’s enrichment program is for weapons-related.”
“ One of the most interesting developments of the past week is that Russia now accepts that further sanctions are inevitable. Now that the world knows about the second enrichment plant at Qom, I expect China, too, will agree to impose additional sanctions if Iran does not demonstrate in the talks that it is serious about meeting their concerns “he added.
Ignoring all the forgotten promises and the “confidence deficit” which has grown between Tehran and West, Fitzpatrick said: Iran had been offered a very good opportunity four years ago to join with Russia in a joint enterprise to produce enriched uranium on Russian soil. The best way forward is a solution such as this that allows Iran to continue to be involved in nuclear technology and does not restrict its ability to produce nuclear power but does limit its ability to produce nuclear weapons. Any solution would also have to involve unfettered IAEA verification, including through implementation of the safeguards Additional Protocol and other measures to overcome what IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei called the ‘confidence deficit’ that Iran has created by its violation of IAEA safeguards and its refusal to fully cooperate with the IAEA.
Speaking about rationality and fairness of allowing some governments and regimes like India, Pakistan and Israel to have Nuclear Arsenals and struggling for preventing Iran from having Peaceful Nuclear Energy, he continued: Iran freely undertook an obligation under the NPT to forgo nuclear weapons and to allow the IAEA to verify that its nuclear activities are peaceful. Iran is being asked to adhere to its obligations. This is hardly unfair. And because Iran violated its safeguards obligations, it was asked to stop producing enriched uranium until the world is persuaded that the nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. It is desirable that all countries sign the NPT. The fact that three of them have not is not a justification for Iran to violate its NPT obligations and to seek a nuclear weapons capability. If Iran seeks to leave the NPT and to produce nuclear weapons, I predict that it will trigger war. I certainly do not want this, and I do not think any reasonable people in Iran do either.
former US State department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation, called Tel Aviv threats against Iran Nuclear Facilities acceptable and said: Iran’s proposal for protecting the IAEA member’s Nuclear Facilities from Airial attacks is obviously self-serving and unacceptable. If Iran is intending to use its nuclear facilities to produce fissile material for weapons purposes, as certainly appears to be the case, then they should not be given international legal status that protects them from military attack.
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Mr Fitzpatrick had previously served for four years at the US Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, including as Charge d’Affairs and as Counselor for Nuclear Policy, in charge of liaison with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Now he is the Director of the IISS Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program.