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International Wrap: U.S. Considers Destabilizing Iran

Aired May 26, 2003 - 06:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk Iran now. Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to talk about a plan to destabilize the regime there.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right. We've been reporting this morning on how the U.S. isn't quite finished stabilizing Iraq, and now we're hearing reports that at least some sections of the Bush administration are considering options on destabilizing Iran.

We need to understand what we're talking about here. First of all, the thing to remember about Iran, of course, as we always say, is there are two Irans, or at least two governments in Iran: the more or less democratically-elected government of President Khatami, and then the clerics, the unelected clerics that run the country, have a veto on all of the legislation, including legislation that Khatami himself wants to pass.

And then the other thing is there are three levels on which the U.S. administration is concerned with Iran. One pretty straightforward: Al Qaeda, terrorism. We've heard a lot about that in the last couple of days. They -- the Bush administration -- putting enormous pressure on Iran to acknowledge what the U.S. says is a fact, which is that there are al Qaeda -- if not leaders, then operatives -- in Iran, perhaps even those coordinating attacks, such as those we saw in Saudi Arabia.

Iranians admitting that they do have al Qaeda; today, though, saying they're not leaders, we're still trying to find out exactly who they are.

The other area talking about destabilizing, the U.S. thinking that if they put pressure on Iran that perhaps destabilization may happen on its own with pressure...

COSTELLO: Why are they doing that, though?

CLINCH: Well, with maintaining the pressure on Iran, if through no other means than the enormous intimating presence of the U.S. military right next door in Iraq, the internal reformists in Iran saying to their supreme leader, Khamenei, in an open letter over the weekend that Iran must -- quote -- "drink the poison chalice and change itself before the U.S. comes and changes us from the outside."

And then the third level, the most important, the area of the most tension is a nuclear Iran. If there is at some point a realistic threat that Iran is about to become a nuclear power, the Bush administration making it fairly clear fairly early in this process they will not tolerate that. And I think that's what this pressure is all about. In the long run, they will not tolerate that.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see if the plan works.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: David, thank you very much.

CLINCH: OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired May 26, 2003 - 06:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk Iran now. Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to talk about a plan to destabilize the regime there.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right. We've been reporting this morning on how the U.S. isn't quite finished stabilizing Iraq, and now we're hearing reports that at least some sections of the Bush administration are considering options on destabilizing Iran.

We need to understand what we're talking about here. First of all, the thing to remember about Iran, of course, as we always say, is there are two Irans, or at least two governments in Iran: the more or less democratically-elected government of President Khatami, and then the clerics, the unelected clerics that run the country, have a veto on all of the legislation, including legislation that Khatami himself wants to pass.

And then the other thing is there are three levels on which the U.S. administration is concerned with Iran. One pretty straightforward: Al Qaeda, terrorism. We've heard a lot about that in the last couple of days. They -- the Bush administration -- putting enormous pressure on Iran to acknowledge what the U.S. says is a fact, which is that there are al Qaeda -- if not leaders, then operatives -- in Iran, perhaps even those coordinating attacks, such as those we saw in Saudi Arabia.

Iranians admitting that they do have al Qaeda; today, though, saying they're not leaders, we're still trying to find out exactly who they are.

The other area talking about destabilizing, the U.S. thinking that if they put pressure on Iran that perhaps destabilization may happen on its own with pressure...

COSTELLO: Why are they doing that, though?

CLINCH: Well, with maintaining the pressure on Iran, if through no other means than the enormous intimating presence of the U.S. military right next door in Iraq, the internal reformists in Iran saying to their supreme leader, Khamenei, in an open letter over the weekend that Iran must -- quote -- "drink the poison chalice and change itself before the U.S. comes and changes us from the outside."

And then the third level, the most important, the area of the most tension is a nuclear Iran. If there is at some point a realistic threat that Iran is about to become a nuclear power, the Bush administration making it fairly clear fairly early in this process they will not tolerate that. And I think that's what this pressure is all about. In the long run, they will not tolerate that.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see if the plan works.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: David, thank you very much.

CLINCH: OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.