Bush: Iran has right to civilian nuclear program

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush on Tuesday
said Iran had a right to a civilian nuclear program if it did
not gain expertise or materials to build an atomic weapon.

The United States is concerned that Iran’s nuclear program
is aimed at producing weapons, and Bush said he would be
“speaking candidly about Iran” with Chinese President Hu Jintao
and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who are gathering in New
York for a United Nations world summit.

Iran says it has every right to develop nuclear technology
to generate electricity, while the United States and the
European Union want the U.N. Security Council to take up Iran’s
case after it resumed uranium processing last month.

“They have insisted that they have a civilian nuclear
program, and I thought a rational approach to that would be to
allow them to receive enriched uranium from a third party under
the guise of international inspections that will enable them to
have civilian nuclear power without learning how to make a
bomb,” Bush said at a press conference with Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani.

The United States last month explicitly accepted for the
first time that Iran could develop civilian nuclear programs,
backing an EU proposal to allow Tehran to pursue atomic power
in exchange for giving up fuel work.

That reflected a gradual shift in U.S. policy because
Washington believes the EU offer has enough safeguards to
prevent Iran from diverting its civilian work into making
nuclear bombs.

“Some of us are wondering why they need civilian nuclear
power anyway. They’re awash with hydrocarbons,” Bush said.
“Nevertheless, it’s a right of a government to want to have a
civilian nuclear program.”

But he said there ought to be guidelines. “And one such
guideline would be in such a way that they don’t gain the
expertise necessary to be able to enrich,” Bush said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected in June,
will attend this week’s U.N. world summit and will make his
case to avert referral to the Security Council.

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and has
been lobbying Russia, China, India and others to fight against
any referral to the Security Council which has the power to
impose economic sanctions.

“It is very important for the world to understand that Iran
with a nuclear weapon will be incredibly destabilizing,” Bush
said. “And therefore we must work together to prevent them from
having the wherewithal to develop a nuclear weapon.”