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CNN Live Sunday
Bush Administration Considers Destabilizing Iran's Government
Aired May 25, 2003 - 16:01 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There are signs the Bush administration is considering setting its sights on destabilizing Tehran's Islamic regime. Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante has been looking into the story for us all day. And Chris, what do you have for us now?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fredricka. Well, administrations for many years have been complaining about contention that the Islamic regime in Iran has been supporting terrorism. Now it looks as though the Bush administration might be interested in taking some kind of action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLANTE (voice-over): Frustrated with what they say is Iran's continued support of terrorism and efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, U.S. officials tell CNN there is discussion within the Bush administration about possibly taking steps to destabilize the Islamic regime there. U.S. intelligence intercepts collected before and after the May 12 terror attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have convinced U.S. officials that Iran is providing safe haven to al Qaeda terrorists, and those terrorists may have been behind the deadly attacks which skilled 34 and injured hundreds more.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no question but that there have been, and are today, senior al Qaeda leaders in Iran. And they're busy.
PLANTE: Iran's ambassador to the United Nations insists they're not harboring al Qaeda.
JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: We have had a number of al Qaeda people in custody and we continue to keep them in detention. And we continue to interrogate them. And once we have any information from them, we will pass them to friendly governments.
PLANTE: One senior defense official said that Rumsfeld feels that the aging conservative Iranian regime might be ready to crumble from within, perhaps with some help from the outside. At least one senator thinks that the youthful, more moderate population of Iran might be ready to force change.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: There could be some very great upheavals and changes brought about by -- these people are getting tired of that type of strict religious oriented regime that basically flies in the face of what they believe. PLANTE: But others were quick with words of caution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a lot of work left to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I think before we go off half-cocked in destabilizing Iran, we should be a little -- spend some real-time thinking about that.
PLANTE: The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee hinted that mounting pressure may produce results.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very hopeful that the very strong message sent to Iran will be received and we'll see some progress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLANTE: Now, at this point, we're not a hundred percent sure which way the administration is going to go on this. But one official did say there are indications that Iran may actually be willing to hand over some al Qaeda members to the government of Saudi Arabia in the near future, which would certainly help to defuse the tensions here -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Chris, are there indications if there isn't any such hand-over, that perhaps the U.S. is proposing or even considering any kind of military action ultimately?
PLANTE: Really, there are no indications that anyone is interested in armed conflict of any kind with Iran. Iran is a very large nation. It is a significantly powerful nation. They have a powerful military. At this point, what we're expecting is that we're talking about applying economic pressure, perhaps cutting off what little trade the United States has with Iran, applying -- perhaps moving for sanctions of some kind, providing assistance to opposition groups, and trying to foment internal dissent, that sort of thing. But at this point, certainly no discussion of any actual armed conflict.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Plante from the Pentagon, thank you.
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Aired May 25, 2003 - 16:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There are signs the Bush administration is considering setting its sights on destabilizing Tehran's Islamic regime. Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante has been looking into the story for us all day. And Chris, what do you have for us now?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fredricka. Well, administrations for many years have been complaining about contention that the Islamic regime in Iran has been supporting terrorism. Now it looks as though the Bush administration might be interested in taking some kind of action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLANTE (voice-over): Frustrated with what they say is Iran's continued support of terrorism and efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, U.S. officials tell CNN there is discussion within the Bush administration about possibly taking steps to destabilize the Islamic regime there. U.S. intelligence intercepts collected before and after the May 12 terror attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have convinced U.S. officials that Iran is providing safe haven to al Qaeda terrorists, and those terrorists may have been behind the deadly attacks which skilled 34 and injured hundreds more.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no question but that there have been, and are today, senior al Qaeda leaders in Iran. And they're busy.
PLANTE: Iran's ambassador to the United Nations insists they're not harboring al Qaeda.
JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: We have had a number of al Qaeda people in custody and we continue to keep them in detention. And we continue to interrogate them. And once we have any information from them, we will pass them to friendly governments.
PLANTE: One senior defense official said that Rumsfeld feels that the aging conservative Iranian regime might be ready to crumble from within, perhaps with some help from the outside. At least one senator thinks that the youthful, more moderate population of Iran might be ready to force change.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: There could be some very great upheavals and changes brought about by -- these people are getting tired of that type of strict religious oriented regime that basically flies in the face of what they believe. PLANTE: But others were quick with words of caution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a lot of work left to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I think before we go off half-cocked in destabilizing Iran, we should be a little -- spend some real-time thinking about that.
PLANTE: The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee hinted that mounting pressure may produce results.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very hopeful that the very strong message sent to Iran will be received and we'll see some progress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLANTE: Now, at this point, we're not a hundred percent sure which way the administration is going to go on this. But one official did say there are indications that Iran may actually be willing to hand over some al Qaeda members to the government of Saudi Arabia in the near future, which would certainly help to defuse the tensions here -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Chris, are there indications if there isn't any such hand-over, that perhaps the U.S. is proposing or even considering any kind of military action ultimately?
PLANTE: Really, there are no indications that anyone is interested in armed conflict of any kind with Iran. Iran is a very large nation. It is a significantly powerful nation. They have a powerful military. At this point, what we're expecting is that we're talking about applying economic pressure, perhaps cutting off what little trade the United States has with Iran, applying -- perhaps moving for sanctions of some kind, providing assistance to opposition groups, and trying to foment internal dissent, that sort of thing. But at this point, certainly no discussion of any actual armed conflict.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Plante from the Pentagon, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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