that we’ve been in the Persian Gulf for decades and we intend to stay there.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C02%5C11%5Cstory_11-2-2007_pg4_7US tries to ease tone in Iran dispute
* Washington says Tehran ‘digging a hole’ in nuclear dispute
SEVILLE: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday dismissed suggestions that Washington had raised its rhetoric against Iran, saying the Bush administration was trying to soften the tone as tensions with Tehran climb.
“My impression frankly in the last few weeks is that there’s been an effort in Washington to tone down everybody else,” he said.
“I don’t know how many times the president, Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran.”
Gates’ comments to reporters at a NATO meeting in Spain came a day after Iranian officials said they tested missiles capable of hitting warships in the Gulf and threatened to strike US interests if Iran was attacked.
Gates, appointed in December, has regularly warned against attacking Iran, but some defense analysts have pointed to signs such as the addition of a second US Navy carrier group in the Gulf.
On Friday, Gates said the second carrier group was meant to “reassure our allies as well as to send a signal that we’ve been in the Persian Gulf for decades and we intend to stay there.”
“I think these are fairly modest statements,” he said.
Tensions have flared between the United States and Iran in recent months. The United States and others say Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability under the cover of a nuclear energy program, but Tehran disputes the claim.
US officials also say Iran is fanning violence in Iraq by giving technology and other support to Shi’ite groups. Gates said there was some evidence Iran was the source of technology for a type of sophisticated roadside bomb.
“I’m just frankly not specifically certain myself of the details but I understand there is pretty good evidence tying (the bomb technology) to the Iranians,” he said.
‘Digging a hole’: A senior US official said on Friday that Iran is “digging a hole deeper and deeper for itself” in the international dispute over its atomic energy program.
“Iran seems to be determined to further its isolation internationally on this issue of nuclear weapons,” Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters in Buenos Aires.
He said only a small handful of countries in the world support Iran, which is under United Nations sanctions that bar the transfer of sensitive material and know-how to its nuclear program.
However, he said that the United States stands by its offer of June last year to negotiate with Iran if that country suspended enrichment at its underground plant at Natanz. He reiterated that the United States would suspend sanctions during the talks.
The United States has put economic sanctions on Iran and is building up forces in the Gulf but says it is committed to diplomacy and has no intention of invading Iran. agencies
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