Weapon Program:
- Nuclear
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QUESTION: I have a question on Iran. During her trip, the Secretary made many comments about how Iran - how the sanctions are delaying Iran's nuclear program. I was wondering if you attribute the delay in Iran's nuclear program solely to the sanctions, or do you think - what do you think the assessment of the impact of this worm - I'm going to mispronounce it, so I won't even -
MR. CROWLEY: Stuxnet.
QUESTION: Stuxnet, yes. And also, the recent assassination of several Iranian scientists, how does that factor in into your understanding of the delay of the program?
MR. CROWLEY: I don't know that I can answer that question without getting into intelligence matters. The Secretary believes that we have some time to deal with this issue, but that time is limited. It's one of the reasons why we look forward to next week's P-5+1 meeting. We hope that Iran comes to the table prepared to engage in a constructive process to resolve these issues.
QUESTION: But I mean, just to follow up, I mean this worm and assassinations of Iranian scientists have been kind of recognized as realities. So surely you don't think that just the sanctions alone have contributed to the delay of the program. I mean, even senior Mossad officials, or former Mossad officials, have acknowledged that there has been - that there is a panoply of issues that have contributed to the delay. Wouldn't you agree?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think it's safe to say that, on the one hand, Iran does appear to be struggling to master this technology. On the other hand, the path that Iran is on is of great concern, and we think, if this path continues, can be destabilizing to a very, very important region of the world.
QUESTION: No, I know, but that doesn't specifically answer -
MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. Again, I'm -
QUESTION: I mean, do you - no, do you attribute - the Secretary made a great big showing about how the sanctions are delaying the program. Do you attribute the delay in the program, which you just acknowledged, solely to the sanctions?
MR. CROWLEY: We believe very definitely that the sanctions, which are targeted primarily against institutions that support Iran's nuclear program, have had an impact. Are there other factors here? Probably.
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QUESTION: On Iran, are you - as you, I am sure, know, the Chinese foreign ministry today said that it would be difficult for their ambassador to the IAEA to get to Iran, because they happen to be in China at the moment, and I guess it's hard to fly from China to Tehran. But are you pleased that it's going to be hard for him to get there?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that we're pleased that other countries that received invitations have seen through the Iranian gambit, just as we did. Whatever Iran contemplates in terms of opening up its facilities to visits by diplomats is no substitute for opening up its facilities to qualified IAEA inspectors so that - so we can truly assess what's happening and use those visits and other cooperation that we would expect Iran to undertake with the IAEA to finally answer the questions the international community has about the nature of Iran's nuclear program.
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