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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Head of UN nuclear agency calls on Bush to ease Iran rhetoric Head of UN nuclear agency calls on Bush to ease Iran rhetoric By Brian Knowlton Published: October 28, 2007 E-Mail Article Listen to Article Printer-Friendly 3-Column Format Translate Share Article Text Size WASHINGTON: Mohamad ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, urged the Bush administration Sunday to soften its rhetoric against Tehran, even as a prominent Democratic senator said he feared that U.S. military action was drawing "precariously close." The comments by ElBaradei and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, the senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, came in response to the administration's recent tough talk, including President George W. Bush's warning of "World War III" if Tehran obtained nuclear arms, and Vice President Dick Cheney's caution of "serious consequences" for Iran. "We cannot add fuel to the fire," ElBaradei said on CNN. "I would hope we would stop spinning and hyping the Iranian issue." Dodd, a Democratic candidate for president, expressed deep concern over a recent Senate vote that asked the administration to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization - which it did last week. "That'll be one of the justifications that the Bush administration gives for military action in Iran if it comes," Dodd said on NBC. "And I believe we're getting precariously close to that happening." Today in Americas U.S. schools taking the scare out of Halloween Obama rolls out aggressive approach to Clinton's campaign Argentina's first lady strides toward the presidency Asked whether he really meant that prospects of an American attack on Iran were growing, he said, "Clearly, the administration seems to be pointing in that direction." In an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush noted that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran had "announced that he wants to destroy Israel." Bush said he had "told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." Some Republican lawmakers on Sunday defended Bush's approach. "I think the president is dead right," Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on CBS when asked about the "World War III" comment. "I think the president is justified in trying to wake up the world, wake up Russia, wake up the European nations. "We need to be more aggressive, we don't need to talk softly, we need to act boldly," Graham continued. He criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia for his conciliatory remarks during a recent visit to Tehran. "Russia's sending all the wrong signals to Iran," said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of that committee, took exception. While calling for a "tighter rope" of sanctions around Iran, he said it was crucial to "not just give Iran a propaganda weapon, don't just give them a can of gasoline to pour onto the fire." "We ought to dial down the rhetoric," Levin said. Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, agreed on CNN that "you do need to be careful about the rhetoric." But he said he supported tough measures such as the administration's designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group. Levin said the West should offer "carrots" to Iran and not just "sticks," much as has been done with North Korea in relation to shutting down its nuclear-weapons program. ElBaradei agreed, saying, "The earlier we follow the North Korea model, the better for everybody." He also expressed frustration about the Israeli bombing in September of a building in Syria that U.S. and Israeli reports assert contained the beginnings of a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor. He said that neither Israel nor the United States had shared any evidence about the facility with his agency, the United Nations body that is empowered to monitor such work. "To bomb first and ask questions later," ElBaradei said, was decidedly unhelpful. Terms of Use Back to top Home > Americas
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