PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has hailed an “enormous shift” in US co-operation with Russia to halt nuclear proliferation by nations such as Iran, a day after signing a key disarmament treaty with his Russian counterpart.
As tight security measures were lifted in the Czech capital and Airforce One carried Mr Obama back across the Atlantic, focus shifted yesterday to whether the US Senate would swiftly ratify the new pact and to preparations for next week’s 47-nation nuclear summit in Washington.
Mr Obama said the treaty to cut US and Russian deployed nuclear warheads by about one-third was “vital” for his country, and that the two cold war foes were closer to agreeing on the need for tough sanctions to force Tehran to scrap uranium enrichment that many states fear is part of a covert atomic weapons programme.
“I think it’s an enormous shift and a signal that Russia, like the United States, recognises that unless we can get all countries to start abiding by certain rules of the road, and right now, our biggest concerns are obviously Iran and North Korea,” Mr Obama said in a television interview recorded in Prague.
“If we are consistent and steady in applying international pressure . . . over time, Iran, which is not a stupid regime, which is very attentive and watching what’s happening in the international community, will start making a different set of cost-benefit analyses about whether or not pursuing nuclear weapons makes sense for them.”
Iran condemned the threat of sanctions this week and yesterday announced that it had developed faster centrifuges to enrich uranium, signalling its determination to press on with a programme it insists is only aimed at generating atomic power.
“If the question is, do we have a guarantee as to the sanctions we are able to institute at this stage are automatically going to change Iranian behaviour, of course we don’t,” Mr Obama admitted.
“The history of the Iranian regime, like the North Korean regime is that you know, you apply international pressure on these countries. Sometimes they choose to change behaviour, sometimes they don’t.”
The US leader said he was confident the treaty would secure the required 67 votes in the Senate, where Democrats hold 59 seats. “There is a strong history of bipartisanship when it comes to the evaluation of international treaties, particularly arms control treaties,” Mr Obama said.
Senior Republican senators John McCain and Jon Kyl immediately raised concerns, however, that the treaty was not accompanied by sufficient commitments to modernise the US nuclear arsenal and that it might give Moscow a veto over the Pentagon’s plans for a missile defence system in central Europe.
Russia says the pact allows it to withdraw if it feels that its nuclear deterrent is undermined by the US system.
“The Senate will assess whether or not the agreement is verifiable, whether it reduces our nation’s ability to defend itself and our allies from the threat of nuclear armed missiles, and whether or not this administration is committed to preserving our own nuclear triad,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The “triad” is the ability to launch a nuclear attack from land, air and sea.
Mr Obama will continue his anti-proliferation work at next week’s Washington summit, where he will be joined by the leaders of Russia, China, France, Germany and 42 other countries.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew from the summit yesterday, amid fears that Muslim states would demand that Israel give up its assumed nuclear arsenal. A deputy prime minister and advisers will take his place.