US envoys in Middle East

Gates fires nuclear warning to Iran

Article published on the 2009-07-27 Latest update 2009-07-27 16:55 TU

Jordan's King Abdullah welcomes US Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the Royal Palace in Amman on Monday.
Photo: Reuters

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah on Monday amid a push by Washington to revive Middle East peacemaking.

Gates, who arrived in Jordan from Israel, is one of three top US officials in the region this week. The others are US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and US National Security Advisor James Jones.

The Defence Secretary was in Israel to further push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Talks there centred on Iran's disputed nuclear programme, while Mitchell is focusing on Washington's drive to reach a comprehensive peace deal between Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon.

Gates warned Monday that if Tehran failed to respond to US offers of dialogue, tough sanctions would follow. "What is clear is if the engagement process is not successful, the United States is prepared to press significant additional sanctions that would be non-incremental," he said, speaking from the Jordanian capital.

Iran is already subject to three sets of UN sanctions following its refusal to heed repeated ultimatums from the Security Council to halt sensitive nuclear work.

Mitchell on Monday called on Arab states to normalise relations with Israel. He said Washington's commitment to Israel's security was unshakeable, and strengthening security could be achieved through comprehensive peace in the region.

"For the Arab states, that means meaningful steps toward normalising relations with Israel. For the Palestinians, it means expanding and improving their security forces, to take action against incitement."

One of the key stumbling blocks in the stalled peace process is the growing number of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli daily, Haaretz, revealed today that the number of settlers has now exceeded 300,000.

Speaking from Tel Aviv, peace activist Uri Avnery, of the group Gush Shalom, told RFI a complete freeze of West Bank settlements, as the UN stipulated, is the only way forward.

"In Israel now there are leaks from the government that the Americans are ready to compromise and practically give up this demand - and that they agreed that projects which have aleady been started and which comprise several thousand new apartments - will be acceptable," he said.

"If the Americans make this compromise, which is in practice an act of surrender, then i don't believe very much will come out of it."