Iran: US Must Pay Price For Nuke Accusation

From an outraged CNN:

Bush: Nuke-less Iran remains dangerous

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Iran remains a danger to the world even though it stopped a program to develop a nuclear weapon four years ago, President Bush said Tuesday.

“Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” Bush said, pointing out that Tehran continues to try to enrich uranium for civilian purposes and therefore develop technology that could be used for a weapon.

A declassified summary of a National Intelligence Estimate released by the U.S. government on Monday said Iran had stopped working toward a nuclear weapon in 2003 and is unlikely to be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb until at least 2010.

The estimate is less severe than a 2005 report that judged the Iranian leadership was “determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure.”

Earlier Tuesday, Iran ripped the Bush administration for rhetoric that came before Monday’s release of the estimate.

“U.S. officials have so far inflicted … damage on the Iranian nation by spreading lies against the country and by disturbing public opinion, therefore, they have to pay the price for their action,” Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham is quoted as saying on the Web site of the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

In another posting, IRNA called the updated estimate “a necessary and positive step in Tehran-Washington relations, but undoubtedly is not sufficient.”

“The U.S. administration should know that only admitting a mistake is not enough,” the IRNA report said.

But Bush said Tuesday he saw the latest estimate on Iran as “a warning signal.”

“What’s to say they couldn’t start another covert nuclear weapons program?” Bush asked.

The latest estimate shows “Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace,” Bush said…

The report comes amid widespread accusations that the Bush administration is attempting to maneuver the United States into a conflict with Iran, which it accuses of meddling in the war in Iraq. In October, the United States designated elements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as supporters of terrorism.

Massive reparations are surely due Iran. The question is only how much.

And how should they be delivered.