Don’t Bomb Iran

Merkel speaks of the need to confront Iran, saying failure to do would would be like the failure to confront the Nazis in the 1930s.   Israel’s nuclear-missile submarine (click here) were built  and donated by Germany.

The Sunday Times February 05, 2006

Iran as bad as Nazis: Merkel
Peter Conradi

THE German chancellor, Angela Merkel, compared President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Adolf Hitler yesterday as Tehran
vowed to resume the enrichment of uranium which could be used to
make nuclear weapons.

Amid growing fears that the Iranians are intent on acquiring an ?Islamic
bomb?, Merkel warned that the world must not repeat the mistakes it
made in appeasing the Nazis.

?Looking back to German history in the early 1930s when National
Socialism was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who
said, ?It?s only rhetoric ? don?t get excited?,? Merkel told an
international security conference in Munich.

?There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in
my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages,? she
added. ?We want to, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear
programme.?

Merkel issued a blunt warning to Ahmadinejad, who has called for
Israel to be ?wiped off the map?.

?Iran has blatantly crossed the red line,? she said. ?I say it as a
German chancellor. A president who questions Israel?s right to exist, a
president who denies the Holocaust cannot expect to receive any
tolerance from Germany.?

The statement came as the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, voted overwhelmingly in
Vienna to report Iran to the UN Security Council, expressing doubts
that the country?s nuclear programme ?is exclusively for peaceful
purposes?.

Iran responded by announcing that it would resume ?commercial-
scale? enrichment of uranium, the fuel for power plants or bombs,
which was suspended in 2004. Ahmadinejad later ordered an end to
spot checks by IAEA inspectors from today.

Tehran described as ?dead? a compromise brokered by the Kremlin
under which Russia would enrich uranium for Iran to the purity required
for nuclear power but not weapons. Moscow insisted the deal was still
on the table.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran?s ambassador to the IAEA described the
vote ? carried by 27 to three, with five abstentions ? as a ?historic
mistake? and insisted his country would press on with its nuclear
programme.

?We don?t want confrontation but we can tolerate some problems for
the sake of principles that we are committed to,? he told The Sunday
Times.

Soltanieh said it was not clear when enrichment would begin. In an
apparent sign of confusion in Tehran an Iranian news agency which
had said Ahmadinejad had given the order to start, immediately
withdrew its report last night.

The escalation in the stand-off with Iran, the world?s fourth largest oil
producer, seemed certain to drive energy prices higher on the markets
tomorrow.

It will also raise fears that Tehran might respond by increasing support
for militant Islamic groups in the Middle East, of which it is already a
major financial backer.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, backed the
German leader?s call for tougher action and accused Iran of being
?the world?s leading state sponsor of terrorism?.
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, his Iranian counterpart, rejected the
charges as ?ridiculous?.

It nevertheless postponed discussion of the issue at the Security
Council until next month to give Iran a last chance to climb down. But
the vehemence of Tehran?s initial reaction made this look unlikely.

It will now be up to the Security Council to decide what further action to
take. It is expected to start by making a so-called ?presidential
statement? reinforcing the IAEA?s demands.

Diplomats said any tougher action, such as sanctions, were further
down the line and would depend on Iran?s behaviour. China, a
permanent member of the Security Council, opposes sanctions.

Calls for stronger measures were growing last night, however. At the
Munich conference, the influential American senator John McCain said
the military option could not be ruled out if diplomatic efforts failed to
stop Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb. ?Every option must remain on the
table,? he said. ?There?s only one thing worse than military action,
that is a nuclear armed Iran.?