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security. According to Israel Defense
Forces
Military Intelligence assessments, Iran will
cross the
point of no return in another year,
at which time it will be able
to create
fissionable material for bombs. By 2006, it
will
have operational nuclear weapons. For the
last six years, Israel
has been conducting a
diplomatic campaign, primarily with the
help of
the United States, to block or at least delay
the
Iranian project.
Sharon plans a discussion with senior
security
and diplomatic officials, at which time the
plan will
be finalized. So far, the National
Security Council has handled
the interministry
coordination and the "leakage committee"
that
coordinated the political contacts with the
U.S. aimed at
foiling Iran's nuclear weapons
program. With the retirement of
NSC Chairman
Ephraim Halevy, Sharon decided to reconsider
the
distribution of responsibility. The
discussion was postponed
because of the bus
bombing in Jerusalem two weeks ago, and
was
postponed again today because Sharon fell ill.
According to the plan, Dagan, who was appointed
Mossad
chief by Sharon, will coordinate the
interministry forum and
other bodies will
operate according to his instructions and
their
expertise. The foreign ministry will handle
diplomatic
contacts, Military Intelligence will
help collect intelligence
and assess it, and
the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) will
provide
professional-technical support in nuclear
affairs and
handle contacts with the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
Sharon's plans to hand over the Iranian
portfolio to the
Mossad has raised intense
opposition in other government bodies.
The
opponents believe it is a sensitive diplomatic
issue that
the Mossad, as a security
intelligence agency, is not built to
handle,
and therefore it should focus on its
professional
sphere rather than dealing with
diplomacy. Furthermore, the
Mossad has no
specific expertise in nuclear matters.
The
"leakage committee," which coordinated efforts
to block
Russian and other technology transfers
to Iran, is currently
headed by Yisrael
Michaeli, deputy head of the NSC, who played
a
key role at the AEC in the past.
The IAEA board of
governors is meeting in Vienna
next Monday, and will discuss
suspicions that
Iran has violated its commitments and is
hiding
experiments in enriched uranium from
international
inspectors. The U.S. is demanding
a declaration be made about
Iranian violations
and that the matter be moved to the UN
Security
Council, which is empowered to impose political
and
economic sanctions. However, the
inspectors' report prepared for
the meeting
next week seeks more time to complete testing,
and
it is doubtful that the Americans will
manage to win agreement in
the governors'
council for more aggressive steps against
Iran.
Tehran, which insists it is not developing
weapons, is
now trying to gain time. It
announced last week that it would
meet
international demands and sign the "additional
protocol,"
which expands the authority of
inspectors inside Iran. The
Iranians announced
they are ready to begin negotiations for
that
signature after the Vienna meeting, saying they
need time
to persuade conservative elements in
the Tehran regime that it is
worth Iran's while
to sign the protocol.
European Union
foreign policy coordinator Javier
Solana said this week in Israel
that he heard
from Iranian President Mohammed Khatami that
the
protocol will only be signed after
negotiations, and not before.
Solana said he
expects Iran will find it difficult to
supply
explanations for the discovery of high levels
of
enriched uranium at one of its facilities.
Meanwhile, the
Iranians are admitting to
purchasing the enrichment centrifuges
on the
black market when they were already
contaminated with
enriched uranium. Solana told
his Israeli hosts, "Iran cannot be
allowed to
achieve nuclear capability other than for
civilian
purposes." |
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