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Bush : Even if Iran Comes Clean on its Nuclear Ambitions, it Won't be Enough

October 22, 2003
Dow Jones Newswires
Alex Keto

CANBERRA -- President George W. Bush said Wednesday he welcomed the news that Iran has said it will stop producing fissile material and will allow international inspections, but he stopped short of saying this alone will improve relations with the U.S.

Iranian officials made the concession during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the U.K., France and Germany.

Instead, Bush said Iran needs to follow up its words with actions and it must turn over members of al-Qaida in Iran.

"Well, it depends on - first things first, and that is, let us have, in a verifiable way, their agreement that was made with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). The IAEA must be allowed in, and we'll discuss it then," Bush said.

Bush made the comments to journalists on Air Force One while he was flying from Bali to Canberra.

However, Bush also indicated that, even if Iran comes clean on its nuclear ambitions, it won't be enough.

"That will help relations with Iran, obviously, if they do abandon a nuclear weapons program. It will also help if...we end up...reaching an agreement on the al-Qaida that they hold," Bush said.

Iranian officials have admitted they have a number of members of the al-Qaida terrorist network in their country and claim the terrorists are under house arrest. U.S. officials don't believe the terrorists are being detained and accuse them of helping to plan the Riyadh bombings in May.

Iran has made some vague offers to turn over the terrorists to their countries of origin but hasn't followed through on this.

Bush praised the foreign ministers from France, the U.K. and Germany for the efforts they made to get Iran to halt development of nuclear weapons.

"I believe, in this case, they generally are concerned about Iran developing a nuclear weapon. They understand the consequences. I appreciate it very much," Bush said.

"This is an effective approach. I've been saying all along that not every policy issue needs to be dealt with by force. There are ways to achieve common objectives, and this is a common objective," Bush said.

"They made a decision collectively in Europe that it's not in their interest or the world interest that Iran have a nuclear weapon. And we came to that conclusion, they've come to that conclusion, and working together is an effective way," Bush added.

Bush compared the U.S.-E.U. approach to Iran to the six-party talks that involve North Korea. In that case, the U.S. along with Japan, South Korea, China and Russia are putting pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Iran claims it is developing a nuclear power industry because it needs the energy from the reactors. The U.S. says this is just a cover for a weapons program and says that Iran wastes more energy from its oilfields in the form of flared gas than its planned reactors would produce.