The News Interview: U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton

New York Daily News:

QUESTION: Iran's nuclear program is finally becoming a subject for the UN Security Council. What brought the issue to a head?

ANSWER: President Ahmadinejad's various comments, including the Holocaust denial and the wiping Israel off the map and having it move to Germany or Alaska, or whatever his latest idea was, have actually helped in the argument, that this nearly 20-year effort by the Iranians to get nuclear weapons is a serious matter. The question of whether a regime headed by a man like that should have its finger on the nuclear button has given some impetus to the desire to get the matter referred to the Security Council. READ MORE

Resistance to referring Iran to the Security Council came from Russia and China. What brought them around?

I think No. 1, Iran's conduct. I think that the Russians and the Chinese, which are legitimate nuclear weapons states, know in some part of their governments what the Iranians are up to.

Why did they resist?

They have a considerable financial stake in Iran, for example, in the construction of a reactor. The Russians have been worried that if they gave that up because of Iran's efforts to get nuclear weapons, some European company might take the project over. They are now a permanent member of the Security Council and if the Security Council takes steps, no company is going to slip in and take over their business.

What about the Chinese?

The Iranians have used their oil weapon effectively with countries that have large and growing energy needs. They have, in effect, tried to buy their acquiescence; unsuccessfully, I hope, but you shouldn't underestimate Iranian diplomacy.

What are the Security Council's options?

The first step would be to make it clear that we are trying to strengthen the hand of the International Atomic Energy Association. A lot of this depends on Iran. What they need to do is give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

What is the ultimate nature of the threat? Are we talking nuclear missiles?

When you think about the nature of the payload, together with efforts to get longer-range, more accurate missiles, you can see that this is not just the faculty of aeronautics getting together for some interesting exchanges of ideas. They are talking about a delivery capability that would make the threat of a nuclear weapon that much more acute.

You have to worry that they would have no compunction about giving a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group like Hamas or Hezbollah or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.