UNITED NATIONS - Former UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix urged Iran and Israel on Monday to support a ban on nuclear enrichment across the Middle East as a possible compromise on curbing Teheran's nuclear ambitions.
Making the Middle East an enrichment-free zone would be in the interests of Iran and Israel, Blix told a news conference on the sidelines of a month-long meeting of the 188 signatories of the 1970 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "I think Israel is extremely interested in having Iran refrain from moving on" to resuming enrichment activities, Blix said. "I'm surprised the idea has not come up before."
| I'll keep this simple for you, Inspector Clouseau: Israel's nukes make sure that her Arab neighbors won't do anything rash or stoopid. Whereas Iran's mullahs are guaranteed to do something re-e-eeally stooopid the day they get a nuke. |
Such a move would also reassure Iran without affecting any existing Israeli nuclear weapons, he said. While Israel neither admits nor denies having the bomb, it is estimated to have about 200 nuclear warheads.
But to help seal the deal, he also encouraged Washington to offer security guarantees to Teheran as a further enticement for it to give up its nuclear ambitions.
| Sure, Blixie: we'll guarantee that if they ever use a nuke, they won't need to worry about their security. |
In a deal reached with Britain, Germany and France in November, Teheran agreed to suspend all nuclear fuel-related activities while both sides tried to negotiate a long-term agreement on Iran's nuclear activities. But Iran, unhappy with the slow pace of talks with the three European Union nations, said on Monday it would resume some work related to enrichment within days.
The UN Security Council has long urged transforming the entire Middle East into a completely nuclear-free zone. But Blix, who headed the UN nuclear watchdog agency for 17 years before leading the UN search for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons in 2002 and 2003, said it was politically unrealistic to press for such a step at this time.
| Now that you've figured out one thing correctly, let's see if you can't retire to your sinecure. |
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