Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Axis to Grind?

Aired August 28, 2003 - 09:06   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the whole issue of the "axis of evil," as the president calls it. The U.S. believes North Korea may already have a few nuclear weapons. And now in Iran, traces of highly-enriched uranium were found by inspectors near a nuclear plant.
Earlier today, the Iranian foreign minister telling CNN those traces came from an outside source, and Iran did not have any nuclear weapon ambitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMAL KHARRAZI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We do not have any program for what you think are nuclear weapons. It's not part of our security strategy. But we have a program to produce energy out of enriched uranium, and this is a legitimate right of Iran to have access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, provided it is under the safeguard of IAEA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: An exclusive interview earlier today on CNN International.

David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, a former nuclear inspector for the U.N., he joins us now live in D.C.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, Mr. Albright. Good morning to you.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER IAEA INSPECTOR: Good to be here.

HEMMER: If you're a skeptic on the claims of WMD regarding Iraq, why should you believe this claim now with Iran?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I don't think you can just take it at face value. What happened was through some very sophisticated techniques, the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered this highly-enriched uranium on components of centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment site. And then, when they confronted Iran with this, Iran responded, well, this material came in on components that they had bought overseas.

And so, unfortunately, Iran hasn't provided enough information to reach a definitive conclusion of whether they're telling truth or not. And so, the question remains: Has Iran secretly enriched uranium up to this level that's basically usable in nuclear weapons? I mean, it's -- no one contests or asserts that it's a large amount, but it's a very critical question in determining whether Iran is being fully transparent.

HEMMER: You mentioned this international agency group, the IAEA. Back in January and February of this year, they were trying to gain access to a number of sites around Iran. It seemed like the government in Tehran was putting them off and pushing them away. We're now seeing again today that they have not been given access -- complete access to a number of sites. If that's the case, what power does this group have? What function do they serve?

ALBRIGHT: Well, they serve to, in a sense, bring light to a situation, to expose secrets, to act in a sense as a warning to the international community that something's going on, that Iran isn't meeting its commitments, or hopefully will meet its commitments. And so -- and it uses extremely powerful techniques. It has very good people who are very experienced in ferreting out secret activities.

And so, it's a very useful tool to determine if a country is meeting its obligations under international law.

HEMMER: Let's broaden our discussion, if we could, to North Korea. We were speaking earlier today with a number of people about what's happening with these talks ongoing in Beijing, China. You believe that North Korea, the government in Pyongyang is in a win-win situation. Explain that from their perspective today.

ALBRIGHT: Well, it's -- I think from the North Korean point of view, it's a win-win situation to them. If they build nuclear weapons, they feel they'll be more secure against a U.S. attack. And they understand they need a small nuclear arsenal. They need around 5 to 10 weapons. They need them mounted on missiles. They are now proceeding to do that. We don't know how many weapons they already have, but it's pretty clear that they are proceeding down that path. And by the end of this year, we'll have to really worry that they'll have a small nuclear arsenal.

HEMMER: And...

ALBRIGHT: On the other hand...

HEMMER: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

ALBRIGHT: ... they also feel that if they can trade that away for better security, commitments that they won't be invaded, that then they've benefited in that way, too.

HEMMER: Yes, bottom line in the 15 seconds we have left here, what comes out of Beijing? Do you get a deal? Do you get an agreement? Do you keep talking, and then months down the road, finalize something?

ALBRIGHT: I think this is just a start, and I think the only goal of this meeting is to continue talking and to set up a structure, so that the negotiations can continue. And hopefully, a solution can be found that doesn't either lead to war -- or I'm sorry, something can be found besides going to war or having to face a permanent nuclear arsenal in North Korea.

HEMMER: Thank you, David. I apologize for interrupting you a short time ago. David Albright...

ALBRIGHT: No, no, that was fine. Thank you.

HEMMER: ... all right -- in D.C.

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 August 28, 2003 - 09:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the whole issue of the "axis of evil," as the president calls it. The U.S. believes North Korea may already have a few nuclear weapons. And now in Iran, traces of highly-enriched uranium were found by inspectors near a nuclear plant.
Earlier today, the Iranian foreign minister telling CNN those traces came from an outside source, and Iran did not have any nuclear weapon ambitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMAL KHARRAZI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We do not have any program for what you think are nuclear weapons. It's not part of our security strategy. But we have a program to produce energy out of enriched uranium, and this is a legitimate right of Iran to have access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, provided it is under the safeguard of IAEA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: An exclusive interview earlier today on CNN International.

David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, a former nuclear inspector for the U.N., he joins us now live in D.C.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, Mr. Albright. Good morning to you.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER IAEA INSPECTOR: Good to be here.

HEMMER: If you're a skeptic on the claims of WMD regarding Iraq, why should you believe this claim now with Iran?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I don't think you can just take it at face value. What happened was through some very sophisticated techniques, the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered this highly-enriched uranium on components of centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment site. And then, when they confronted Iran with this, Iran responded, well, this material came in on components that they had bought overseas.

And so, unfortunately, Iran hasn't provided enough information to reach a definitive conclusion of whether they're telling truth or not. And so, the question remains: Has Iran secretly enriched uranium up to this level that's basically usable in nuclear weapons? I mean, it's -- no one contests or asserts that it's a large amount, but it's a very critical question in determining whether Iran is being fully transparent.

HEMMER: You mentioned this international agency group, the IAEA. Back in January and February of this year, they were trying to gain access to a number of sites around Iran. It seemed like the government in Tehran was putting them off and pushing them away. We're now seeing again today that they have not been given access -- complete access to a number of sites. If that's the case, what power does this group have? What function do they serve?

ALBRIGHT: Well, they serve to, in a sense, bring light to a situation, to expose secrets, to act in a sense as a warning to the international community that something's going on, that Iran isn't meeting its commitments, or hopefully will meet its commitments. And so -- and it uses extremely powerful techniques. It has very good people who are very experienced in ferreting out secret activities.

And so, it's a very useful tool to determine if a country is meeting its obligations under international law.

HEMMER: Let's broaden our discussion, if we could, to North Korea. We were speaking earlier today with a number of people about what's happening with these talks ongoing in Beijing, China. You believe that North Korea, the government in Pyongyang is in a win-win situation. Explain that from their perspective today.

ALBRIGHT: Well, it's -- I think from the North Korean point of view, it's a win-win situation to them. If they build nuclear weapons, they feel they'll be more secure against a U.S. attack. And they understand they need a small nuclear arsenal. They need around 5 to 10 weapons. They need them mounted on missiles. They are now proceeding to do that. We don't know how many weapons they already have, but it's pretty clear that they are proceeding down that path. And by the end of this year, we'll have to really worry that they'll have a small nuclear arsenal.

HEMMER: And...

ALBRIGHT: On the other hand...

HEMMER: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

ALBRIGHT: ... they also feel that if they can trade that away for better security, commitments that they won't be invaded, that then they've benefited in that way, too.

HEMMER: Yes, bottom line in the 15 seconds we have left here, what comes out of Beijing? Do you get a deal? Do you get an agreement? Do you keep talking, and then months down the road, finalize something?

ALBRIGHT: I think this is just a start, and I think the only goal of this meeting is to continue talking and to set up a structure, so that the negotiations can continue. And hopefully, a solution can be found that doesn't either lead to war -- or I'm sorry, something can be found besides going to war or having to face a permanent nuclear arsenal in North Korea.

HEMMER: Thank you, David. I apologize for interrupting you a short time ago. David Albright...

ALBRIGHT: No, no, that was fine. Thank you.

HEMMER: ... all right -- in D.C.

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