US holds back from imposing strict nuclear deadline on Iran

NUKEWARS

Few US troops for Afghanistan: Gates
No more than 200 US soldiers have been identified for deployment to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, suggesting that more sizeable reinforcements would await troop drawdowns in Iraq. Gates said earlier this month he wanted to send more troops to Afghanistan "sooner rather than later" to deal with rising attacks and border infiltrations by insurgents. But he acknowledged at a Pentagon news conference Thursday that the number of troops raised so far is not significant. "At most, a couple of hundred, maybe," he said. US commanders in Afghanistan have asked for three more combat brigades, or about 10,000 troops, saying they need reinforcements this year. A dramatic decline in violence in Iraq, meanwhile, has raised the prospect that deeper troops cuts there could free up forces for Afghanistan. President George W. Bush said General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, has told him that while the gains in Iraq were not irreversible, they now had "a degree of durability." Asked whether that meant more troops could be sent to Afghanistan, Gates said: "I think we'll just have to wait and see what General Petraeus' recommendations are before we can make that judgment." Petraeus is supposed to make recommendations on troop levels in Iraq by mid-September.

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) July 31, 2008
The United States held back Thursday from insisting on a strict deadline for Iran to give world powers a final answer to their incentives package to defuse a showdown over Tehran's nuclear program.

"I didn't count the days. It's coming up soon," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked if Saturday is the deadline for Iran to accept or reject the offer.

A day after Iran, the United States and four other powers met in Geneva on July 19, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Tehran of further "punitive measures" if it failed to come up with a clear response in two weeks.

August 2 will mark two weeks since that meeting -- one in which Washington broke with longstanding policy and sent top diplomat William Burns to show it was going the extra mile for a diplomatic solution.

And not only did McCormack omit to mention a strict deadline, he also said there is "no indication of that" when asked about whether Washington would pull the incentives offer off the table.

Iran said Thursday that it had agreed with the major powers in Geneva to find common ground on both sides' proposals aimed at ending the standoff over Tehran's nuclear drive, and denied any ultimatum was set.

Iran on July 4 handed major powers what it said was its "constructive and creative" response to their offer presented by EU foreign policy envoy Javier Solana in June aimed at persuading Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear work.

McCormack on Wednesday warned of consequences of any defiance by the Islamic republic, referring to the US threat of more UN and bilateral sanctions.

The package, drawn up by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany offers Tehran technology and negotiations if it suspends uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make atomic weapons.

Iran has been slapped with three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt enrichment. It insists it has the right to nuclear technology as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and denies Western claims it is seeking to build atomic weapons.

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NUKEWARS

Obama says Israel could strike Iran if sanctions fail

Washington (AFP) July 30, 2008
White House hopeful Barack Obama believes Israel will launch a military strike on Iran if nuclear sanctions fail, ABC News reported Wednesday.

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