Polish leader: Iran is gravest threat

The Jerusalem Post:

An Iranian attempt to develop nuclear weapons would be the greatest threat to peace on earth, the speaker of the Polish parliament and leading presidential candidate said.

"There is no doubt that if the real intention of the Iranian authorities is to reach capability to attain nuclear weapons [then] it would be greatest threat to peace not only in this part of the world... but theoretically it can be the greatest threat to world peace," Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in his office in the Polish parliament. READ MORE

The remarks by Cimoszewicz, a former prime minister and minister of foreign affairs who is expected to win this fall's Polish presidential elections, were the clearest signal yet of a growing unease in Europe over Iran's nuclear weapons project.

The US administration has warned for months that it might ask the UN Security Council to impose economic and political sanctions on Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program, but, while acknowledging that such an event might be "unavoidable one day," Cimoszewicz downplayed the significance of what the UN could actually do to stop Iran.

"With all due respect to the UN, there are too many examples of ineffective action by the UN to trust sending the Iranian case to the security council," he said. "We should not overestimate this procedure."

Newly-elected Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to pursue a peaceful nuclear program, an effort the United States says is really a cover for trying to build atomic bombs.

Amidst rising Israeli and American concern over Iran's nuclear weapons program, the European Union has, over the last year, been seeking a negotiated settlement with Teheran, with some Israeli analysts warning that Iran is simply playing for time.

"We had great expectation [from these talks] but still we cannot be satisfied with the results and I am afraid we cannot be completely sure [what is going on]," Cimoszewicz said, urging the Iranians to allow international monitors into the country to verify what is going on.

"I hope they are rational enough to understand that they have economic interests here involved," he said.

The 54-year-old Cimoszewicz, who, in 1997, was the first Polish prime minister to visit Israel, said that as Israeli-Polish relations flourish, he views the strengthening of strained Polish-Jewish relations as one of the major goals for the future of Poland.

"This is not just about being nice. This is about our joint heritage," he said.

In unusually candid remarks, Cimoszewicz acknowledged that for many Jews even coming to Poland – which was the epicenter of the Nazi extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust – was difficult, but said that in most cases those who do come are happy they have done so.

"Many of us have forgotten how close we used to be for so many centuries. Let us come back to that time," he said.