Washington insists Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at producing atomic weapons. President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have made it clear in recent statements that the U.S. government is leaving all options open, including the military, in relation to Tehran.

The government of Iran has explained it is seeking to develop nuclear power to provide the energy needed to advance the country’s industrial and technological development. Tehran has also taken more visible measures to enhance its defense capabilities.

In October, the Iranian government announced it has increased the range of its Shahab-3 missile to 1,200 miles, which makes it capable of reaching Israel, U.S. bases in the Arab-Persian Gulf, and parts of Europe.

The recent U.S. sanctions, imposed under the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000, prevent the Chinese companies from doing business with the U.S. government and from obtaining export licenses to purchase controlled technologies from U.S. companies. One firm in Taiwan and another in north Korea have also been sanctioned.

“The U.S. side arbitrarily imposed sanctions on Chinese companies by citing its domestic laws without authentic evidence,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Kong Quan, in response to Washington’s punitive measures. “This is what we cannot accept.” He added that the Chinese government strongly opposes any proliferation of “weapons of mass destruction.”

Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, recently announced that China is replacing Japan as the number one importer of oil and natural gas from Iran. Trade agreements between Tehran and Beijing now equal $200 billion.

Meanwhile, the White House denied it has a plan to conduct air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites and that U.S. commandos have been sent into that country to do reconnaissance, as Seymour Hersh charged in an article in the January 24-31 issue of the New Yorker magazine.

Interviewed on CNN, White House communications director Dan Bartlett said Hersh’s article was “riddled with inaccuracies.” Asked about Hersh’s allegations, President George Bush told NBC News, “I hope we can solve [the conflict with Iran] diplomatically, but I will never take any option off the table.”

Cheney, interviewed January 20 on radio by Don Imus, said, “You look around the world at potential trouble spots, Iran is right at the top of the list.” He said there are two reasons for this stance. “They have a fairly robust new nuclear program,” he said, and “Iran is a noted sponsor of terror.” Asked by Imus if the Israeli government should take out Iran’s nuclear sites, the vice president replied, “One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked, that if, in fact, the Israelis became convinced the Iranians had a significant nuclear capability, given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of the state of Israel, that the Israelis might well decide to act first and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward.”

“We don’t want a war in the Middle East if we can avoid it,” Cheney added. “Certainly, in the case of the Iranian situation, I think everybody would best suited by, and/or best treated or dealt with, if we could deal with it diplomatically.”

Condoleezza Rice, U.S. secretary of state designate, told the Senate at her confirmation hearings that Iran’s nuclear capacities were not the only reason for Washington’s hostility toward Tehran. “It’s really hard to find common ground with a government that thinks Israel should be extinguished,” she said. “It’s difficult to find common ground with a government that is supporting Hezbollah and terrorist organizations that are determined to undermine the Middle East peace that we seek.”

Hersh’s article is based primarily on interviews with unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, a number of whom have been ousted in the current revamping of the U.S. military and CIA. The interviews offer little hard evidence.

Hersh’s basic tenet is the liberal argument, laced with anti-Semitism, that a neoconservative “cabal” has hijacked control of covert operations from CIA and congressional control and turned it over to the Defense Department. Bush’s re-election, Hersh wrote, “has reaffirmed the position of the neoconservatives in the Pentagon’s civilian leadership who advocated the invasion [of Iraq], including Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Douglas Feith, the Under-secretary for Policy.”

Both officials mentioned—Wolfowitz and Feith—have Jewish names and have been favored targets of Hersh and other liberal reporters.

The military actions against Iran that Washington is allegedly planning could be a disaster, said Hersh, increasing popular support there for the current regime in Tehran, rather than undermining it.

“If any country tries to invade our country, we are strong enough to defend ourselves,” said Iran’s president, Mohammed Khatami, in response to these threats. He was speaking January 20 to reporters in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, during a seven-nation tour of Africa.

“I do not think the Americans would do such a crazy thing as carrying out military attacks against Iran,” Khatami added. “We believe the possibility of America attacking Iran is very low, as it is involved in other places.”  
 
 
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