Official: Iran Begins Uranium Activity - What would Bush/ Kerry do about it as President?

Most of the threads about politics and International relations on ATs focusses on the "mistakes" that Bush has made, and how Kerry would never. We all know that hindsight is 20/20. However here is a current situation where Iran has gone against the UN and the IAEA to prove whatever point they wish to prove to the world. What in the opinion of the ATS members would Kerry or Bush do as the chief of the country?

I also recall that during the 4 th World Conference on the Rights of Women in Beijing most of the muslim countries would not sign the Plan of Action , and in fact found various ways of circumventing them, whilst superficially particpating. All members of Iraq and Iran negotiating teams were men. It was scary. But all of this is an aside.

www.voanews.com...
"21 Sep 2004, 12:24 UT
Iran's Atomic Energy chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh says Iran has begun converting a large amount of raw uranium into fuel for nuclear centrifuges that will enrich uranium.

The announcement came Tuesday in Vienna, just days after the International Atomic Energy Agency demanded that Iran freeze all uranium enrichment activities."

Tehran has rejected the IAEA demand and is threatening to bar international inspectors from its nuclear facilities, if the agency refers the matter to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

In Tehran, President Mohammad Khatami said Iran's nuclear program will continue even if it leads to a ban on international inspections. But he stressed that Iran seeks nuclear technology, not atomic weapons.

The United States has accused Tehran of running a secret weapons development program."

olympics.reuters.com...

[edit on 21-9-2004 by Mynaeris]

Kerry would bow down and kiss the Iranians feet. He is an appeaser not a warrior. He is anti-military, and would give the Iranians money to stop doing it overtly.

In my humble opinion Bush would probably try and take the situation head on and potentially create a second Iraq, whilst Kerry would try and negotiate dismantling and cessation through the "correct structures" such as the IAEA and the United Nations where on the one hand most of the muslim and many third world countries will quibble about interference in the rights of sovereign states, and if the US did convince the UN and IAEA members of the direness of the situation , Iran will say thanks but we don't care, neither structure has any real power. Have a nice day. I don't believe the UN or thye IAEA members would ever sanction military action against a nation - this potentially leading to a nuclear attack on the rest of the world and then a war. So in effect I see both candidates as a lose/lose proposition.

Do you think there is no way we can influence them to stop producing a nuke?

Do you think the "invade Iran policy" makes sense? This is a completely genuine question. What about the repercussions from that internationally, especially after our fiasco in Iraq? We would become, I believe, an International pariah, and a further target for terrorists. Under some circumstances that might be the price we had to pay.

On a personal note: we damn-well better have better intelligence there than we had in Iraq.

Do you think Israel might step in and bomb, like they did Saddam's reactor? Would that possibly be effective at halting there program, or not?

While Iran is a huge concern, I think it is much more self contained than Pakistan and North Korea. North Korea is so poor it will sell any weapons technology to anyone for a price. Pakistan has already supplied numerous nations with Nuclear technology and know-how.

While Iran is a radical cleric run state, It has some self-preservation instincts i think. When independent groups get nukes or technology from North Korea and Pakistan, those groups have no nation-state to preserve. In other words they would have NOTHING to lose in using a nuclear warhead.

One of my strong condemnations of the Bush administration is that it has done virtually nothing to locate, contain and aquire nuclear matterials around the globe.
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