Gates Says U.S., Iran Aren’t Close to Nuclear Accord

From Bloomberg:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he doesn’t regard Iran as close to an accord with international powers on the handling of uranium.

“I don’t have the sense that we are close to an agreement,” Gates said today in Turkey’s capital Ankara. He discussed Iran with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Munich yesterday that Iran is “approaching a final agreement” on having nuclear fuel produced outside the Islamic Republic. The country is “serious,” he said.

The U.S., the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany are working to persuade Iran to give up enrichment of uranium, which could be used to produce fuel or make a bomb. The group, which also includes China, France, Russia, and the U.K., offered a proposal that would allow Iran to swap uranium in return for enriched fuel for a medical reactor.

Iran’s response has been “quite disappointing,” Gates said. The country continues to resist the International Atomic Energy Agency and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said.

“The reality is they have done nothing to reassure the international community that they are prepared to comply with the NPT or stop their progress toward a nuclear weapon,” Gates said. “I think that various nations need to think about whether the time has come for a different tack.”

EU Critical

The U.S. and its partners have said that Iran’s failure to negotiate a successful agreement would lead to further pressure, including financial sanctions. The six nations are discussing a potential Security Council resolution calling for another round of sanctions.

Iran has not made an adequate response to the proposals, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in Munich today.

Gates travels on to Rome today and Paris on Feb. 8 in a European trip that started with a NATO meeting in Istanbul.

Obama relies on Turkey, one of NATO’s two Muslim members, on a range of national security issues straddling Europe and the Middle East, including Iran and a planned withdrawal from neighboring Iraq. Turkey also uses U.S. surveillance data in its fight with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which launches attacks on Turkish targets from bases inside northern Iraq.

Gates said he told Turkish officials that he would look for more ways to assist Turkey in the effort. He cited a visit to Turkey last week by Army General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

“I think what we’re seeing is a further intensification of the cooperation in an effort to deal with this threat,” Gates said.

Erdogan is struggling to win domestic support for a plan to widen rights for Kurds and encourage the PKK to disarm. Ending a war that has killed 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, and cost $300 billion by government estimates, would bolster Turkey’s status as a safe route to Europe for Eurasian oil and gas. It would also help revive Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, which criticizes the treatment of Kurds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net