Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned President Barack Obama against pressing Tehran about new revelations that Iran has been constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant. "If I were Obama's adviser, I would definitely advise him to refrain making this statement because it is definitely a mistake," Ahmadinejad told TIME in New York on Friday. "It would definitively be a mistake." His comment came as President Obama, speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, made a dramatic announcement that Iran has been constructing a second uranium-enrichment facility whose existence had been kept secret in violation of the non-proliferation agreements to which Tehran is a signatory.
Flanked by Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama warned that Iran would be held accountable if it failed to live up to its international obligations. Fearing imminent disclosure of the plant being built into a mountain near the seminary city of Qom, the Iranians had earlier this week written to the International Atomic Energy Agency to confirm its existence. (See the top 10 Ahmadinejad-isms.)
But in an exclusive interview with the editors of TIME that coincided with Obama's announcement, Ahmadinejad insisted Iran was not keeping anything from the IAEA. "We have no secrecy, we work within the framework of the IAEA," he said. Still, the Iranian leader seemed nonplussed by the news that Obama was revealing the Qom plant's existence. Ahmadinejad's response meandered from the defensive to the aggressive. "This does not mean we must inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have," he said, warning that if Obama brings up the uranium facility, it "simply adds to the list of issues to which the United States owes the Iranian nation an apology over." And he boasted that Obama's "mistakes" work in Iran's favor. (Watch TIME's exclusive interview with Ahmadinejad.)
Western officials say the site is less extensive than the main enrichment plant at Natanz, containing only 3,000 centrifuges. (Natanz currently has 8,308 installed). And it is still under construction and not yet producing enriched uranium, the officials say. As in the case of Natanz, the second plant's existence was initially kept secret and only acknowledged when Iran was confronted with evidence of its existence.
But Obama's attempt to hold Iran to account may disappoint many who have been closely tracking the U.S. effort to back Tehran away from the nuclear threshold — not because the President showed any lack of resolve, but because the resolve of others remains in question. The British and French leaders were adamant in their support, Sarkozy warning that "If by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders," tough new sanctions would be applied. Prime Minister Brown called the new development the greatest challenge facing the international community. But Germany, which has recently shown reticence to expand sanctions without approval from the entire European Union, was inexplicably absent from the event. Obama was left to explain that Chancellor Angela Merkel had a more pressing engagement. More important, after hinting in recent days that Russia might be willing to support broader sanctions against Iran, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev was absent from the rostrum, as was Chinese leader Hu Jintao. Both men are present in Pittsburgh for the G-20. Statements may come from those three countries expressing concern over the new disclosures, but their failure to appear alongside Obama in confronting the Iranians on the secret plant underscores Obama's difficulty in building a coalition to pressure Iran.
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European diplomats played down Germany's absence from the stage, and say the Germans may be still willing to back tough sanctions, having only learned the details of the new plant this week. "From the feedback we got from them, I think they will go along" with new sanctions, says one senior European diplomat. Russia and China are less likely to be impressed by the new information, says the diplomat, noting that they continue to have, "different, conflicting views" from the Western powers about further sanctions. Medvedev said Thursday in Pittsburgh, "I do not believe sanctions are the best way to achieve results," but added that if incentives don't work, "we'll consider other options."
The absence of Germany, Russia and China from Friday's announcement was all the more disappointing given the fact that the U.S. has spent more than a year in careful deliberations aimed at securing a consensus among all six countries whose representatives will meet with Iranian negotiators in Geneva next week. The U.S. strategy, devised and implemented by Obama's top Iran advisor, Dennis Ross was to set up a clear choice for Iran: engage in broad talks without precondition aimed at bringing its nuclear program back into line with international agreements, or face the "crippling sanctions" of which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned last spring. Last spring, Ross and others had spoken of the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh as the pivotal moment, at which the Iranians would be confronted with an international united front demanding immediate compliance under threat of tough consequences. (See pictures of people around the world protesting Iran's election.)
Iran has proven adept over the years at dividing the international community, weakening the affect of past sanctions and buying time to advance its nuclear program, which by now has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium to enable it to produce sufficient highly enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon. It seems as if the Iranian leadership may have pulled the same trick again. Perhaps Merkel really did have a more pressing engagement — the German embassy did not immediately return calls requesting an explanation. But for all the positive spin U.S. officials had put on Russia's hints of greater willingness to support new sanctions, Medvedev's absence from the podium on Friday spoke far more loudly of the difficulty the U.S. faces in mustering a durable coaltion for sanctions. Without Russia, it will be very difficult to build a united international front, even in light of Iran's new transgressions.
