Israel and pro-western Arab states feel that their concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions have been vindicated by the latest dramatic revelations about a secret, second uranium enrichment plant. News about the Qom site will encourage those across the Middle Eastwho want to see tough sanctions imposed and cheer those who fear the prospect of unilateral military action by Israel – the likely outcome if diplomacy fails. But both Israelis and Arabs worry about a deal that will leave Iran as a powerful regional actor. There was no official reaction from Jersualem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was flying home from New York, where he highlighted the Iranian government's "extreme fundamentalism" and "fanaticism" in his UN general assembly speech. Arab governments made no official comment, but regional media headlined the news from the G20 summit. Saudi Arabia, Iran's main Arab adversary, has made clear along with its smaller Gulf allies that they will pressure Russia and China to drop their resistance to tougher sanctions. But they fear a deal being done with Tehran at their expense. "There will be a lot of worried phone calls from Arab to western capitals," said Mamoun Fandy of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "Arabs will be suspicious rather than pleased: this confirms their fears of a package deal being done in which they are the package." Ephraim Asculai, of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said: "Everyone suspected that Iran could have had a secret parallel programme to enrich uranium. Asculai, a former official with Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, noted that the newly-exposed plant near Qom was reportedly smaller than Natanz, Iran's main enrichment plant, and therefore it seemed likely that the only purpose for the second plant was for weapons. Meir Javedanfar, another Israeli analyst, said: "It is a vindication for Israel and supports its position for the last 10 years that Iran is not being frank and honest in its dealings with the IAEA. If people are going to talk to Iran there will be more room for Israel's assessment of the situation." But this should not be used to justify a possible Israeli military strike, Javedanfar warned. Instead, he hoped this new information would convince Iran to accept wider inspections. "We can use it to our advantage in the negotiations. It's not the time to point fingers but to effectively use this as leverage to force the Iranians to come to some kind of negotiated settlement."Iran's second nuclear plant 'a vindication for Israel'
Saturday, 26 September 2009
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