US-Iran tension builds
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Iran to immediately stop enriching uranium and condemned its expansion of enrichment operations.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, she said Iran’s announcement that it was opening a new enrichment facility near Qom was ‘’contrary to its obligations’’ under multiple international resolutions.
Iran announced its expanded enrichment capability on Saturday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Monday that Iran had begun enriching uranium to 20 per cent at the facility in Fordo.
Weapons-grade uranium would require a considerably higher percentage of enrichment than 20 per cent, experts say.
Clinton said the circumstances were “especially troubling” because Iran made the announcement to the IAEA only after the activity had become known. She accused Iran of working covertly for three years to build the facility.
Tehran claims it needs the facility to provide fuel for a research reactor.
Clinton demanded that Iran return to negotiations with the five veto-wielding powers on the UN Security Council — the US, France, Britain, China and Russia — plus Germany.
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in China this week to discuss increasing pressure on Iran, amid escalating tension.
Under a new US law, President Barack Obama can levy sanctions on foreign firms that do business with Iran’s central bank, through which its income from oil exports flows. By the end of January, the European Union plans to consider an outright embargo on Iranian oil.
Tehran has responded with threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, used by tankers carrying much of Middle-Eastern oil to the rest of the world.
The head of the US Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said Tuesday the US will not be “taking its eye off the ball” in the Middle East as it looks to strengthen its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Greenert said that he does not foresee a shift in naval forces from the Middle East. He said the vast majority of America’s 100 deployed ships operate in the West Pacific and the Gulf.
“If you ask me what keeps me awake at night, it’s the Strait of Hormuz and business going on in the Arabian Gulf,” Greenert told a seminar organized by the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington.
Iran last week warned American vessels against entering the strait after the US tightened sanctions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program. The strait carries to market much of the oil pumped in the Middle East.
The Obama administration last week unveiled a strategic defense review that wants to enhance the US presence in Asia because of the region’s economic importance and China’s rise as a military power. It seeks to retain American military pre-eminence around the world despite stiff budget cuts to help manage the hulking national debt.
A new report by the Center for a New American Security contends the cuts could leave the US Navy weakened when it needs to build a stronger fleet to preserve American interests, particularly in the South China Sea, a potential regional flashpoint.
“The South China Sea is quite simply the throat of international commerce,” said author Robert Kaplan, who contributed to the report. He said about half of the tonnage of international trade passes through these resource-rich waters.
China claims the sea almost entirely as its own, but Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines also have territorial claims there.
Kaplan said countries in the region are looking to the US as a necessary balancing force as China’s influence grows, and the US sees its role as one of upholding international rules-based commerce.
China, however, views as hegemonic US interference in the balance of power in a region half-a-world away from America, he said.
The US Navy currently has 285 ships worldwide, compared with almost 600 during the Cold War presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. (dpa and AP)
mb.com.ph
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