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President Bush said Wednesday Iran should come clean on the extent of its nuclear activities or risk isolation. “The Iranians have a strategic choice to make,” Bush said in Omaha, Neb. “They can come clean with the international community about the scope of their nuclear activities and fully accept a longstanding offer to suspend their enrichment program and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of isolation that is not in the best interests of the Iranian people.” The issue of Iran’s nuclear activities dominated headlines for a third straight day after a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) declassified on Monday showed that the country had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. While the White House hailed the intelligence report as a validation of its tough diplomatic course, critics of Bush said his recent saber-rattling further undermined U.S. credibility abroad. In his brief remarks upon leaving Air Force One, the president sought to address such notions. He discussed a briefing he had received on conversations Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had with their counterparts from Russia, Germany, the U.K. and France. “These countries understand that the Iranian nuclear issue is a problem and continues to be a problem that must be addressed by the international community,” Bush said. The president also praised the intelligence community for its work in updating the information on Iran’s nuclear activities. “It is clear from the latest NIE that the Iranian government has more to explain about its nuclear intentions and past actions, especially the covert nuclear weapons program pursued into the fall of 2003, which the Iranian regime has yet to acknowledge,” Bush said. |
