Cheney Ups Rhetoric On Nuclear Iran

US VICE-PRESIDENT Dick Cheney has issued his strongest warning yet to Iran over its nuclear program, branding the country a threat to peace in the Middle East and warning that the international community was prepared to impose "serious consequences" if it continued to pursue its nuclear ambitions.

In a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Sunday, Mr Cheney stoked up the rhetoric just days after President George Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to "World War Three".

"Our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfils its most aggressive ambitions," Mr Cheney said.

"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences. The United States joins other nations in sending a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

The rising rhetoric could signal that Mr Bush intends to take action — possibly military — to halt Irans nuclear program before he leaves office in January 2009, some analysts said. "Thats pretty firm, clear language," Michael OHanlon, a military analyst for the Brookings Institution, told Americas ABC News. "And it raises more clearly the spectre of military action. That is much more than saying this isnt just an option that weve taken off the table."

The latest signal out of Washington also follows a strike by Israel against a target in Syria a month ago, which was said to have destroyed a nuclear plant in the early stages of construction.

Mr Bush has refused to make any comment about the incident, which is being interpreted by some analysts as a clear warning to Iran that it will receive similar treatment if it continues with its nuclear enrichment program.

Iran rejects accusations it is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, saying it wants nuclear technology for power generation. But, given its huge reserves of oil, there is some scepticism about these claims.

In Paris, the head of the UNs nuclear watchdog said Iran would need three to eight years to produce a nuclear bomb.

"I cannot judge their intentions, but supposing that Iran does intend to acquire a nuclear bomb, it would need between another three and eight years to succeed," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Le Monde newspaper.

■Doubts surround the future of Irans Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, after the departure of the countrys chief nuclear negotiator — which appears to signal a significant power shift to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A day after Ali Larijani resigned as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, speculation grew that the Foreign Minister may be the next to go as the President tightens his grip on nuclear policy.

With GUARDIAN

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