WASHINGTON, 7 December 2006 — US defense secretary-designate Robert Gates said Tuesday he was against an attack on Iran except as an “absolute last resort” and added that he would not support any US strike against Syria.
Gates also said he believed, in line with previous remarks by US government officials, that Iran was bent on developing a nuclear weapon, during his confirmation hearing before a US Senate committee.
The Senate committee unanimously approved Gates on Tuesday after he told the panel the United States was not winning in Iraq and needed a new approach to end the carnage and avert a possible region-wide war.
And ahead of the publication of the report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group yesterday, expected to call for US contacts with Iran and Syria, Gates said he was in favor of open channels of communication with the US foes.
Gates, picked by Bush to replaced Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said any military operation against the Islamic Republic would have a “dramatic” impact on US security.
“Military action against Iran would be an absolute last resort,” Gates said when questioned by Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd.
“We have seen in Iraq that once war is unleashed it becomes unpredictable; the consequences of a military conflict with Iran could be quite dramatic,” Gates said.
“Therefore, I would counsel against military action except as a last resort.” Asked by Byrd whether he would endorse an attack against another US foe, Syria, he said “No, sir.” Later, Gates was asked whether he believed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was lying, when he said that Iran was not seeking a nuclear arsenal.
“Yes, sir,” Gates answered, but then said he did not know if Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel, and said Ahmadinejad’s warnings about wiping the Jewish state off the map were not necessarily state policy.
“I don’t think he’s kidding but I think there are in fact higher powers in Iran than the president.
“While they are certainly pressing, in my opinion, for nuclear capability, I think that they would see it in the first instance as a deterrent.
“They are surrounded by powers of nuclear weapons, Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west.” Gates later said that open channels of dialogue with US foes Iran and Syria were worthwhile, but expressed doubts dialogue would work in Tehran’s case.
“I have said that I think having a channel of communication with these governments is worthwhile,” said Gates in his Senate confirmation hearing.
But he said that given Iran’s posture toward the United States, he was “not optimistic” that talks could bear fruit.
Gates also said the United States had to look at both “incentives or disincentives” for Iran and Syria to cooperate with the US effort to stabilize Iraq.
He said he favored keeping options open as to whether the United States should sit down and hold negotiations with its foes.
