"We have to look out for ourselves," says
Israeli defense minister • Meanwhile, Iran still trying "very actively"
to buy banned components for its nuclear and missile programs, according
to U.S. official • Iran and West set to resume talks in Vienna.
Defense Minister Moshe
Ya'alon: Israel believes "the one who should lead the campaign against
Iran is the United States"
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Photo credit: Yoav Ari Dudkevitch  |
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Monday
that Israel cannot depend on the United States to lead an action against
Iran's nuclear program and that Israel can only rely on itself.
Ya'alon said Israel believes "the one who
should lead the campaign against Iran is the U.S.," but instead,
Washington began talks with Tehran.
He said Iran has the upper hand in the talks and that "we [Israelis] have to look out for ourselves."
Ya'alon's office confirmed his remarks, which
were published in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday, but refused to
comment on whether the defense minister was advocating an Israeli strike
on Iran.
Ya'alon spoke as world powers and Iran are to
start a new round of talks over Iran's contested nuclear program in
Vienna. Iran, meanwhile has pursued a long-standing effort to buy banned
components for its nuclear and missile programs in recent months, a
U.S. official said.
Vann Van Diepen, principal deputy assistant
secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation,
added that a Chinese businessman indicted in the United States in 2009
over sales of missile parts to Iran continued to supply such items
despite U.S. pressure on China to tighten export controls.
Reuters was unable to reach the Chinese
businessman, identified as Li Fangwei and also known as Karl Lee, for
comment, as the mobile phone he previously used appeared to be out of
service despite numerous calls made to it.
Contacted by Reuters on Feb. 4, 2013, for an
earlier story about his business, Li said he was continuing to get
commercial inquiries from Iran, but only for legitimate merchandise. Li
said his metals company, LIMMT, had stopped selling to Iran once the
United States began sanctioning the firm several years ago.
In Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing on Monday that China was
very clear in its stance on non-proliferation and seriously fulfilled
its obligations to U.N. resolutions about export controls.
"As for individuals, we will investigate and
deal with, in accordance with the law, those who break the law and
rules," Hong said, without elaborating.
Such trade would breach a 2006 U.N. embargo
banning the provision by any nation to Iran of materials related to its
nuclear and missile development work.
Western experts say such low-profile
procurement efforts by Iran date back many years, perhaps decades in the
case of its nuclear activity.
Asked in an interview on Sunday whether he had
seen a change in Iranian procurement behavior in the past six to 12
months, a period that has seen a cautious thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations
after decades of hostility, Van Diepen replied: "The short answer is
no. They still continue very actively trying to procure items for their
nuclear program and missile program and other programs. We continue to
see them very actively setting up and operating through front companies,
falsifying documentation, engaging in multiple levels of trans-shipment
... to put more apparent distance between where the item originally
came from and where it is ultimately going."
Asked for reaction to the allegation, a senior Iranian official replied: "No comment."
Van Diepen did not say what sort of components
Iran had sought to obtain or which part of a government known for
having competing hard-line and moderate factions was responsible.
He said Li and his network were still active. He did not give specifics.
"He is one of the top serial proliferators, a
major source of supply for the Iranian missile program. Unfortunately he
seems to continue to be able to obtain technologies for Iran by
operating in and through Chinese territory," Van Diepen said.
Washington had repeatedly worked with China to
get it to act against Li, but thus far without result, he said. China
had taken important steps on export control, providing cooperation in
certain cases and installing a national export-control system that met a
lot of international standards. It was really the implementation of
that system that required work, he said.
In 2006, the U.S. Treasury barred Li from the
U.S. financial system for allegedly selling goods with potential
military uses to Iran.
Diplomats have said that Iran is meeting its
commitments under the November deal, under which Iran suspended its
refinement of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, a short technical
stage away from high, bomb-grade enrichment, and stopped increasing its
capacity to produce low-refined uranium, among other steps. Uranium
forms the core of a nuclear bomb if enriched to a 90% fissile
concentration.
The agreement, which has a six-month duration,
was designed to buy time for talks on a final settlement defining the
overall scope of Iran's nuclear work to end fears that it could be
diverted to military ends.
Van Diepen said that while there was no direct
link between the level of Iranian illicit procurement and the
negotiations on a settlement to the nuclear dispute, "obviously if the
negotiations succeed then there should therefore be a corresponding
decrease in Iranian proliferation activity."
Also on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif canceled a planned dinner meeting with European
Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton over meetings she had with
opposition activists during a visit to Iran earlier this month, Iran's
semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Zarif's cancellation of Monday's scheduled
dinner with Ashton in Vienna was intended to protest "uncoordinated
meetings in Tehran," a reference to her meeting with female opposition
activists convicted of rioting after the disputed 2009 election,
including human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Ashton's spokesman, Michael Mann, confirmed
there was no dinner but declined to say if it had been canceled by the
Iranians, adding only that Ashton and Zarif had met recently in Tehran,
so there was less need for them to meet again ahead of Tuesday's round.
Ashton "was in Iran last weekend and spent a great deal
of time with the minister," Mann said. "There's therefore less need for a
dinner this time. ... She has preparatory work to do with her team."
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