Iran’s nuclear site in Syria? Obama administration won’t make it an issue in Geneva
Special to WorldTribune.com
WASHINGTON — The United States said it won’t raise reports of an Iranian nuclear facility in Syria.
Officials said the U.S. intelligence community and State Department were examining reports that Iran was helping Syria build a nuclear facility in the mountains along the border with Lebanon. But they said the administration of President Barack Obama would not raise this in talks with Iran scheduled for Geneva on Jan. 14.
“The upcoming talks are about the Iranian nuclear program,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “We don’t discuss other issues with them at those talks, as you all know.”
In a briefing on Jan. 12, Ms. Harf said Washington was looking into a report in the German weekly Der Spiegel that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah were guarding a secret Syrian nuclear facility near the Lebanese border. Der Spiegel said the discovery of the nuclear facility, transferred from Damascus in 2013, took Washington, Israel and NATO allies by surprise.
Ms. Harf did not deny the Spiegel report. At one point, she said Washington was closely monitoring any suspicion of Syrian nuclear activity.
“I would agree with you that we probably have information they don’t,” Ms. Harf said. “[We are] seeking internally or from our partners to see if we can cooperate this, but again, not sure we can.”
In 2013, the United States pressed Syria to agree to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile. By the fall of last year, Washington said virtually all of the CW stockpile had been removed, an assertion later questioned by other NATO states.
Hours after the briefing, the White House said Obama would press ahead with efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Teheran. In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama was not said to have raised the Spiegel report.
“The president reaffirmed to the prime minister that the United States is focused on reaching a comprehensive deal with Iran that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and verifiably assures the international community of the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program,” the White House said on Jan. 12. “The president underscored the United States’ enduring commitment to the security of Israel and the importance of continuing close cooperation with Israel on this issue.”
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