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Untitled Document White House Press Briefing (excerpted) Ari Fleischer December 13, 2002
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Q Ari, the third country that the President would put in the axis of evil is also in the news again when it comes to its nuclear program; there are newly publicly available satellite photos showing facilities in two cities -- Arak and Natanz -- if I have their pronunciations right. What is the administration's assessment of those facilities, and what specifically they are being used for? Are they peaceful energy facilities, as Iran says, or does the United States believe they are part of a nuclear weapons program? And more broadly, any sense of "told you so" here at the White House to those who scorned the President's use of that term, "axis of evil"?
MR. FLEISCHER: We have serious concerns about this. The United States has longed stressed our serious concern with Iran's nuclear weapons program and with its across-the-board pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile capabilities. The recent disclosure about secure nuclear facilities in Iran reinforces the concerns that the President has had all along.
The suspect uranium enrichment plan could be used to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons. A heavy water plant could support a reactor for producing weapons-grade plutonium. Such facilities are simply not justified by the needs that Iran has for their civilian nuclear program. Our assessment when we look at Iran is that there is no economic gain for a country rich in oil and gas like Iran to build costly indigenous nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Iran flares off more gas every year than the equivalent power it hopes to produce with these reactors.
So it is an issue that we have highlighted, that the President has brought world attention to before. And we do continue to have great concerns about it. It's another reason why it's important to be vigilant in our efforts to fight proliferation of this nature.
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