WASHINGTON– Iran's launch of its first satellite added new fuel to US concerns over its nuclear ambitions, but a security official said yesterday the move did not by itself alter the strategic balance.
Iran announced the launch a day before world powers discuss strategy over Iran – one of the top US foreign policy issues in the early days of President Barack Obama’s administration.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US would show openness to Iran – a change from a hard-line isolation policy under former president George W. Bush – but urged it to respond in kind.
“We are reaching out a hand, but the fist has to unclench,” she said at a briefing with Britain’s foreign secretary David Miliband.
Mrs Clinton said senior US diplomat Bill Burns would join officials from other major powers in Germany today to discuss an international strategy for curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iran said it had launched into orbit a domestically made Omid (Hope) research and telecommunications satellite. It was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the US-backed Shah.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said: “They pose a real threat and it is a growing threat.” – (Reuters)