Clinton hopes for Iranian turnaround on nukes

[December 03, 2010]  MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held out hope Friday that Iran will show in talks next week a willingness to prove the peaceful intentions of its nuclear program, and Bahrain's top diplomat declared that the Middle East "can never live with" a nuclear-armed Iran.

In a joint news conference with Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Clinton said, "We hope that Iran will respond" to concerns expressed by Bahrain and others that its nuclear program not be used to a make weapons.

She noted that Iran has agreed to resume talks with the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany over its nuclear program after a one-year impasse that brought tighter U.N. and American sanctions on Tehran and some stinging blows -- including international oil companies leaving Iran and Russia's refusal to deliver a long-awaited anti-aircraft system to Iran's military.

"Perhaps the Iranians, with their return to the talks in Geneva starting Monday, will engage seriously with the international community on what is a concern shared by nations on every continent but most particularly here in the region," she said.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, but it has began taking steps toward enriching uranium at a level sufficient to make bombs.

The Bahraini foreign minister was blunt and unequivocal in his insistence that Iran must not move toward a nuclear bomb-making capability. He said no one questions Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"When it comes to taking that power to developing into a cycle for weapon-grade (nuclear material), that is something that we can never accept and we can never live with in this region," he said. "We've said it to Iran and we've heard it from all."

He was responding to a reporter's question about a WikiLeaks disclosure of a secret State Department cable that quoted Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as saying privately that Iran must be stopped from getting the bomb.

Until now, Arab worries generally have been expressed in public in careful, diplomatic language with the emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy.

The WikiLeaks disclosures showed private concerns about Iran expressed by a range of Arab leaders.

One message said Bahrain's King Hamad "argued forcefully for taking action to terminate their (Iran's) nuclear program, by whatever means necessary. That program must be stopped. The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it."

Another quoted Zeid Rifai, then president of the Jordanian Senate, telling a U.S. official that the options are to either "bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won't matter."

Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince in the UAE's emirate of Abu Dhabi, called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "young and aggressive" and believed "this guy is going to take us to war. ... It's a matter of time."

Clinton is in Bahrain to attend an international security conference where Iran's nuclear program and its regional political role are expected to be major topics of discussion.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT BURNS]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.