The Obama administration apparently doesn’t have too firm a grip on what’s happening in Iran.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday night, “We don't know what to believe about the Iranian [nuclear] program," according to the Jerusalem Post.
Her comments came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared positive developments in that program.
Those amount to start-up of a new nuclear facility and testing of two high-capacity centrifuges that Ahmadinejad says will accelerate Iran's enrichment abilities. He also claims 7,000 centrifuges are working to enrich nuclear fuel at Iran's Natanz station.
Clinton says that announcement won’t change the Obama administration’s decision to take part again in a global dialogue on Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. doesn’t "attribute any particular meaning" to Iran's statement in so far as the negotiations are concerned, she says.
France wasn’t quite so sanguine. "These are worrying declarations," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told reporters, according to the Post.
"We need to check the accuracy of the figures ... and for that we'll wait for the International Atomic Energy Agency."
Chevallier says Iran should allow a complete IAEA inspection at all of its nuclear sites and cease its uranium enrichment efforts.
Jeremy Hammond argues in Foreign Policy Journal that Obama’s policy on Iran differs from the Bush administration’s in tactics but not in substance.
“The policy goal remains the same, which is to force Iran to acquiesce to Western demands that it halt uranium enrichment activities,” he writes.
“Both Bush and Obama administrations have accused Iran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons… That acting assumption remains the same under the new administration.”
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