White House Deputy Press Secretary on Iranian Launch

February 5, 2010 at 11:22 am | Posted in Space Law | Leave a comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From Briefing by White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, 2/3/10:

. . . Q On Iran, Iran said today that they had fired a rocket capable of launching a satellite. What is the administration’s level of concern at whether that technology, that capability could be devoted towards military use, even a nuclear missile program?

MR. BURTON: Obviously we’ve seen those reports and we’re still checking them out to make sure that they’re accurate. A launch like that is obviously a provocative act. But the President believes that it’s not too late for Iran to do the right thing, come to the table with the international community, and live up to its international obligations.

Q Iranian President Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran was in fact ready to go ahead with a deal that it had reached earlier but yet reneged on to allow its nuclear fuel to be processed abroad. Does the President see that as a serious offer or overture, and would the U.S. take advantage of that in some way? Or do they see it as being a way of diverting attention or diverting efforts towards a new round of sanctions?

MR. BURTON: Well, some of these reports have been pretty fragmentary in the sense that we haven’t seen the whole transcript and everything that he has said. But if those comments indicate some sort of change in position for Iran, then President Ahmadinejad should let the IAEA know. . . .