September 10, 2009
The Washington Post

Iran Proposes Control System Aimed at Eliminating Nuclear Weapons

Thomas Erdbrink

Iran is not prepared to discuss halting its uranium enrichment program in response to Western demands but is proposing instead a worldwide control system aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top political aide said in an interview Thursday. . . .

As described by Samareh Hashemi, Iran's offer is similar to a call by President Obama in April to eliminate the world's nuclear weapons. At the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting later this month, Obama is scheduled to chair a special U.N. session aimed at seeking broad consensus on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons rather than on targeting individual nations such as Iran and North Korea. . . .

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Enver Masud, "Letter to Editor and Ombudsman, The Washington Post," The Wisdom Fund, January 13, 2006

Enver Masud, "Iran Has an 'Inalienable Right' to Nuclear Energy," The Wisdom Fund, January 16, 2006

"Iran Offers Help on Afghanistan, U.S. Hypes Iran Threat," The Wisdom Fund, April 1, 2009

[Iran is unlikely to be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a United States government intelligence estimate made public last Thursday.--Daniel Luban, "New nuke report debunks Iran hawks," atimes.com, August 11, 2009]

"Iran nuclear 'threat' hyped: IAEA's ElBaradei," Reuters, September 2, 2009

Glenn Kessler, "U.S. Accepts Offer From Tehran for Broad Talks," Washington Post, September 12, 2009

Jeff Gates, "How Israel's Nuclear Arsenal Endangers Us All," middle-east-online.com, September 14, 2009

Janine Zacharia, "Obama Urged to Ready Tougher Iran Sanctions, Military Strike," middle-east-online.com, September 15, 2009

[In view of the consistent exaggeration of the Soviet threat throughout the 1980s, when the USSR was on a glide path toward collapse, it is fair to speculate on current geopolitical situations that are far less threatening than our policy and intelligence experts assert.--Melvin A. Goodman, "How the Soviet Menace Was Hyped," consortiumnews.com, September 15, 2009]

Mark Hosenball, "Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran: Secret updates to White House challenge European and Israeli assessments," Newsweek, September 16, 2009

[Overriding Western objections, a 150-nation nuclear conference on Friday passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program for the first time in 18 years. Iran hailed the vote as a "glorious moment."

The result was a setback not only for Israel but also for the United States and other backers of the Jewish state, which had lobbied for 18 years of past practice - debate on the issue without a vote.--George Jahn, "Nuclear conference criticizes Israeli nukes," Associated Press, September 19, 2009]

Gordon Prather, "Why No Dancing in the Streets?," antiwar.com, September 19, 2009

Robert Parry, "What Did Ahmadinejad Really Say?," middle-east-online.com, September 9, 2009

Glenn Kessler, "Iranian Leader Offers U.S. Access To the Country's Nuclear Scientists: Ahmadinejad Says Talks Could Build Trust Over Issue," Washington Post, September 24, 2009