- WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign blasted the Bush administration
for "another national security failure" on Iran's nuclear program
and urged that Tehran be threatened with tougher sanctions.
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- Campaign spokesman Mark Kitchens told AFP that the White
House's "arrogant unilateralism" had made it harder to get the
necessary cooperation from European allies and the UN nuclear watchdog
to rein in Iran's ambitions.
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- He made his comments a day after a State Department spokesman
expressed alarm over Iran's admitted program of uranium enrichment and
declared that Tehran was making an "unrelenting push toward nuclear
weapons capability."
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- "Recent developments represent another national
security failure for the Bush administration," Kitchens said as the
Kerry campaign sharpened its attacks on President George W. Bush six weeks
before the November 2 election.
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- Kitchens said the administration had lost its bid for
a tougher International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution that would
have referred concern over Iran to the UN Security Council.
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- "Now we learn that Iran will not even comply with
the IAEA resolution and has begun uranium enrichment activities,"
he said.
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- "We must make clear to Iran that the United States
will lead an international effort to push for tougher measures, including
sanctions, if they do not comply with the IAEA resolution," Kitchens
said.
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- Contacted for comment, the Bush campaign had no immediate
response.
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- Both Bush and Kerry have publicly given a high priority
to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. But neither side has offered
any new solution for dealing with Iran and neither has spoken of possible
military action as in neighboring Iraq.
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