BRUSSELS (AP)–U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he was “disappointed” by Turkey’s opposition to a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its disputed nuclear program.
Gates also said intelligence estimates indicated that Iran could not produce a nuclear weapon for at least one to three years.
Turkey and Brazil were the only two council members to vote against the U.S.-backed measure Wednesday.
“I’ll be honest, I was disappointed in Turkey’s vote on Iranian sanctions.” Gates told reporters after a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers.
“That said, Turkey is a decades-long ally of the United States and a member of NATO (and) continues to play a critical part in the alliance.”
He noted that the United States and Turkey have a strong military relationship and that the U.S. maintains bases on Turkish territory.
“Allies don’t always agree on things,” Gates said. “But we move forward from here. We’ll just do that.”
He said intelligence estimates differed on the time needed for Iran’s to produce a nuclear device, “but that is different from weaponization or delivery system or anything like that.”
“But clearly them getting to the threshold of having weapons is what concerns everybody, and not the other things, and in that area I would say there is a range there from 1-3 years.”
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He says “and not the other things”,I’ve said this before,Americans are clueless.Iran will develope a nuke and thats a fact.Isreal will attack Iran,thats a fact.Iran will use the Turkish supplied missles on American targets.This chain of events has already been set in motion and the only way to stop it is a premptive strike by the US and Isreal with no garentee of getting everything Iran has.Oh yeah,Armenia gets pulverized in the process “I would say…1-3 years”.
“Allies don’t always agree on things,” Gates said.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates should had said this to Turkish PM instead attacking US Congress and issuing exaggerated and sordid statements denying the fact of Armenian Genocide and misleading US lawmakers !
Hahahahahahahahah…..thats what you get Gates, you absolute dickhead, when you sided with that filthy race to opposse recognition of the Armenian Genocide back in 2007 and they turn on you when you need them…..ssssssucker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt see ONE piece of evidence of a Iranian nuclear weapon. There is however PLENTLY of evidence that Israel has nukes. Israel and the USA will not even allow TALK of inspection of Israel come up in the UN conference. That is why they killed JFK, why the attacked USS Liberty, which would have proven Israels nuclear program and stopped it.
Dont forget Iran is one of the few friendly neighbours to Armenia and has always been. Armenians should oppose these sanctions as well since 1. sanctions do not work 2. sanctions only harm population not the government 3. sanctions will also hurt armenians in iraq and armenias economy due to our ties with iran
Thanks Rita for the extended information. I appreciate it.
Nairian
A weak Administration breeds weak subordinates,Gates trip was just folly,proving to the world how far we slipped in world esteem.jerky turkey wouldnt have taken a obstinate stance with my old boss Pres.Harry Truman.they knew much better.
Nairian no problem jan.. lets not forget that Iran has been a good neighbour to armenia and has never turned their backs on us and also has given over representation to Armenian Iranians in government.. we must stick to our values and not turn our backs on our friends just to become a puppet of the USA. Regardless of our religious differences with Iran, if not for them Armenia may not be here today with all of our other hostile neighbours (turkey, azeris).
Without Iran our economy would completely crash (yes worse than it is now) and we would have no protection from turkey and azerbaijan (who are being supported by the US and Israel)
Yes Rita jan, I completely agree with you. Thanks to Iran, we have at least one very friendly nation and attached to us through our Syunik region. We have mountains between us and if we can get through the mountains and make railways and cargo transportation, it would be great. Armenia must support Iran completely.
Bobby,bobby, bobby you are disappointing us. You decided to visit Ilham in Baku, I’m sure you took a couple of tubes of ky personal lubricant in order to massage and relax the azeri’s in order to keep the oil flowing. Than all of a sudden your bestest of best friends erdogan and gul where for years you have been using your special skills to build a very special relationship, have disappointed you. What happened bobby, ran out of ky intense arousal gel? Guess what you better stock up on the new ky yours and mine to rebuild you special relationship so that you may not be so disappointed next time.
Gates, can you even imagine that if Iran becomes nuclear power, it will share its nukes with turkey. During karabagh war Russia promised Turkey to attack with nukes, if Turkey involves karabagh war. If Turkey becomes nuclear superpower, than there is nothing can stop Turkey from invading Armenia. The best thing Armenian goverment can do now is to do nothing. Although Iran is our good neighbour, with all do respect, nobody wants to see nuclear Iran. We want to see Middle East free of nukes.
Hovo, when you say ‘we want to see the middle east free of nukes’ it just is’nt going to happen. Considering all the different muslim countries in the region (with some having nukes-i.e. pakistan,) and others supporting the idea of another muslim country having nukes to counter israel’s arsenal, it’s very naive to think in such a way. The reality is Iran WILL develop nukes for both peaceful and perhaps ‘other’ reasons. I dont know if many are aware, but in the region of armenia that’s connected to iran, there is alot of uranium. So azerbaijan, turkey and iran and russia naturally all have their eyes on it. With russia voting against iran, it strains armenia’s relationship with iran, something we cannot afford to play with for the sake of survival as a nation. Iran’s relationship with armenia matters ALOT more than russia’s. Keep in mind that russia WILL sell armenia if it has something to gain. However, Iran can’t afford to lose armenia because she will never EVER want to see the attachment of turkey and azerbaijan, which will have drastic effects for iran and other ‘persian’ nations (afghanistan, tajikistan). So, we need iran way more than we need russia. We both have been friendly nations before jesus and mohmammed, we had the same gods ( i,e. zoroastrian god ahura mazda was known as aramazd in armenian, etc.) and in iran not a single church has ever been vandalized or damaged, armenians have representation in gov’t, even in shah abbas time when he relocated 300,000 armenians from naxijevan to iran, he did not damage a single khachkar or church (although he did burn down the whole city of julfa-but it was to stop the ottoman soldiers from crossing into iran). Also, dear friends please be aware of the Jewish efforts to depopulate the entire armenian population from iran. They are leaving in record numbers to europe and usa, all supported by israel and usa to erase the armenian presence in iran, which will effect the armenian-iranian relationship down the road-all being done to leave armenia with no friend’s to turn to in it’s time of need- all thanks to israel and usa. In all honesty, this entire flotila ‘incident’ to me smells of something much more sinister-im positive it will lead to iran having weapons-therefore causing israel to attack iran, after that it’s anyones guess what happens. Will iran strike back or not ? Will it inevitably lead to new alliances being formed therfore igniting the fuse for a possible world war 3 ? I hope i’m wrong but it sure looks that way. Oh and google ‘and the fraud had a name” to read about azerbaijans ‘history’ and the role iran has had in providing proof that karabakh is really armenian, and send it to all armenians you know. Thanks.
Vache jan, I know what I am talking about. The biggest question is this: what do you think if Iran becomes nuclear superpower, will it share its technologe with Turkey? Yes or No. This is the most important paradox or discrepancy that we have to deal with. When I said; “middle east free of nukes” I knew it was impossoble, but it was just a thought. Don’t confuse middle east with other muslim countries, and don’t confuse uranium with WMDs. The only country in the middle east that has nukes is Israel ( around 400). Yes, there is 90 nukes in turkey, but those are americans for american interet. Don’t trust anybody, but we have to cooperate with iran and russia. Iran was the only country that helped us with weapons in karabagh war, russia didn’t, but it stopped turkey. That’s why we gave our energy contracts to iran instead of russia (2 to 5). I know we heard that serj said that he wanted to sell energy to Turkey and next day we found out that Russia was going to build nuclear power plans for Turkey. Historically we are closer with Iran, after the last war in 451. The battle of Avarajr. For this war Exishe wrote: “voch te mi koxm£ haxtec u mijus koxm£ partutjun krec ajl qajer£ qajeri dem durs galov 2 koxmn el partutjun krec”. So intrinsically, our 60.000 troops were against iranians 300.000 troops plus 1000 drunk elephants. We lost our commander of chief, Vardan Mamikonyan, but not our religion. Now, ww3, I don’t have a crystal ball to know when it is going to start, but I know that israel will not attack iran without America’s green light. Otherwise if it does, it will lose its country. Iran’s RG is very strong.
Vahe (not Vache), you are extremely naïve, now I see where are you coming from. You should never say “never”? I am not advocating against Iran, we do need to cooperate with Iran as much as we can or possible. My biggest concern is this; “if Iran becomes nuclear superpower, will it share its technology (process of making nukes) with Turkey? YES or NO? If Turkey becomes nuclear state than there is nothing can stop Turkey from invading Armenia. Is there anybody else (out there) who can answer this question?
hovo, honestly i do not think Iran will share it’s technologies with turkey, despite this latest trend of warming relations. Turkey has had many wars with iran, iran is all too aware of turkey’s interest in seperating the province azerbaijan from iran and connecting it to today’s ‘azerbaijan’ (this was the whole point in inventing today’s country ‘azerbaijan’-to one day claim iranian lands-with help from israel), plus iran knows all too well the relationship turkey has had with israel-it’s not that naieve to believe all of a sudden turkey is it’s ally. Iran knows turkey and azerbaijan are working with usa and israel, because of this and of the land claims iran will never help turkey or azerbaijan in sharing nuclear technology. Iran cannot afford to lose a province or two-it will do anything to stop the spread of pan-turkism and if it has to help armenia to achieve that then it will-as it has for a long time. It really is funny when you look at reality of it all-that the shiite gov’t of iran (who the zionist media portrays as america/western hating terrorists) has actually done more for armenia than most christian countries combined. Even during and before the genocide-no christian country did anything for armenia. Look at georgia now-they have streets named talaat pasha-a clear message to turkey saying were glad you erased most armenians-how thoughtful of them. Turkey, azerbaijan, israel and usa are doing all they can to destroy the armenian-iran relationship so they can leave armenia isolated. Just imagine-god forbid-syunik region falling into azeri or turkish hands. That’s THE end of armenia-no connection to iran-turkey and azeri on THREE sides-and a christian neighbour who favours muslim turks and tatars over the oldest christian nation. It’s pretty clear what will happen next. So, Iran needs armenia and armenia needs iran. There will definitely be more problems in the iran vs. turkey/azerbaijan dilemma in the future with the help of israel/usa, because they will want to stop iran from becoming a regional superpower-especially with nukes. So, they will start a campaign saying what turks are doing to kurds iran is doing to ‘azeris’ then azeris in both regions will start protests (like they always have) to join ‘north-south azerbaijan’ (PLEASE READ ‘AND THE FRAUD HAD A NAME’ FOR DETAILED INFO), due to this iran will always have problems azeris/turks, leaving armenia as the only ally in the region. Also, i dont know if they helped directly or not-but a few days after the iranian mediation in the karabakh war- karabakh soldiers liberated shushi-which azeris are well aware of-and sometimes accuse iran of helping armenia. Plus, the security zone outside karabakh that armenians have liberated for safety-borders iran. Now, if we could get karabakh recognized-officially-then the armenia-iran border would be almost 3x bigger. Officials in iran have stated karabakh borders iran, therfore recognizing it’s existence as a seperate entity. Only time will tell-lets hope it tells of positive outcomes for our nation who has been through every type of horror one could imagine. If we made it then-well make it now.
Anyway, we still need stronger Iran, it can be our only true ally. I will explain why: Iran’s foreign policy of the past demonstrates Iran’s pragmatism in the Caucasus which is not recommended by religious ideology, but rather its national interests. In this region we can see multipolar system of alliances, which has led to greater instability, drastically placing Armenia and iran at greater risk, and there can be possible war between azeries and us. In general, there are 2 main interest group. 1. Baku_Tel-Aviv-Tbilisi-Ankara-Washington (and even recently Moscow and Beijing). 2nd interest group is: Yerevan-Tehran-Moscow. As we can see the powers are unequal, which can be real challenge for us, Baku’s oil speaks louder. Unfortunately, Moscow became unrelaible partner not only for Iran, but for us. Moscow used to support only Armenia, but in 2000 when Putin came to power, it started to cooperate with Azerbajian, and now Medvedov started to cooperate with Ankara. Pluse Moscow and Beijing voted for sanctions, and the world doesn’t treat iran and israel equally. Although there is historically great ties between Armenia and Russia, one may wonder how much help we may get if a new war starts? Why Tehran needs Yerevan and vise versa? Armenia is a Buffer zone, over the course of two decades, Armenia acted as a balancing power in favor of iran in a region that experienced polarity and opposing alliances. Our country sees that there is no other viable alternatives, it has aligned itself with iran as well as russia. We saw that Soviet Union collapsed and ethnic cleansing started in karabagh. Irans population is very diverse: 24 percent is azeri, only 51 percent is persian. Elchibey was in power in azerbaijan and called unity of 15 million azeries who were and still are living in northern part of Iran. First of all, iran was pressured by minorities to help azeries against infidels such as armenia. Iran first started to accept refugees an and build campes, but than again it was fearful of azeries. So all this processes pressed iran to consider its relation with Armenia, that’s why iran started to help armenia and to train ASALA. Today Azerbaijan’s wealth from oil keep increasing, and military becomes stronger day by day, and iran is here with us to counterbalance it with economic incentives. Thus, the competition within the scope of Yerevan-Moscow-Tehran geopolitical triangle directly affects the security of Armenia’s energy adding to this process either negative or positive shades.
Vahe, thanks for response…
hovo, I have a problem with something you mentioned in your message. When you say ‘azeri’s in iran’ – they are NOT turkic azeris…they are persian BUT since the seljuk/tatar/turkic invasions into iran they have developed a turkic tongue-that’s it. So, they are NOT turkic. There is not 15 million azeris in iran ! Azerbaijan has always been an iranian province-up until 1918 there NEVER was a azerbaijan anywhere north of the arax river. The ones who live in iran only speak turkic because of tatar invasions. This whole plan to rip apart iran was conceived in turkey last century-they saw this as the beginning of pan-turkism. Hovo jan, PLEASE take some time today and google ‘AND THE FRAUD HAD A NAME’ you may think you know all about fake azerbaijan, but this article goes into detail. It really is a wonderful read for every armenian and everyone else into REAL history, including vermin azeris/turks. Please take time and read it and share with your friends. Thanks.
Gates, obviously, a turkey is lining up muslim nations to regain the ottoman dynasty destroyed in early
20th century…. wake up. Manooshag
Well well well what were those billions of $$$ the JewSA &the west poured & still pore unto their strategic ally turkey for??They did it with the talibans some 20 years ago and now they are two towers short &hopelessly bogged down in a war they will never win.And now turkey`s going to do the same trick as their taliban muslim brothers.The faggots are going to provoke another war which will make the earlier ones a child`s play.And the iranians?They couldnt win the war with Iraq,then backed by the USA and now-whats their chance against a nuclear power like Israel??Waiting for the arabs to help them with their famous arab solidarity.?Only they are not arabs, but persians, an ancient & noble race crippled by a backward religion and modern satraps.