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Obama Rebukes Donald Trump’s Comments on Nuclear Weapons Obama Rebukes Donald Trump’s Comments on Nuclear Weapons
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday questioned Donald J. Trump’s fitness for office, citing recent statements by the Republican presidential candidate suggesting less constraint on the use of nuclear weapons. “We don’t want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn’t recognize how important that is,” Mr. Obama said. WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday questioned Donald J. Trump’s fitness for office after statements from the Republican front-runner that the United States and its allies should move away from decades of constraints on the use of nuclear weapons. “We don’t want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn’t recognize how important that is,” Mr. Obama said.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit, Mr. Obama said Mr. Trump’s comments reflected someone who “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world in general.” Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit meeting devoted to nuclear security, the president said the comments by Mr. Trump reflected a person who “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world in general.”
In an interview with The New York Times last week, Mr. Trump said he would be open to allowing Japan and South Korea to build their own nuclear arsenals rather than depend on the American nuclear umbrella for their defense against North Korea and China. Mr. Obama has not hesitated to criticize Mr. Trump for contributing to a coarse tone and circuslike atmosphere on the campaign trail. But his criticism of the candidate’s comments on nuclear proliferation was not about public language or personal style, but about one of the gravest responsibilities of an American president. It carried an extra edge because it involved an issue that Mr. Obama has made a central goal of his presidency.
The president said those comments by Mr. Trump came up on the sidelines of the summit. “Even in those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity in U.S. elections,” he said. He said world leaders and other participants at the conference had expressed concerns about Mr. Trump’s comments during private conversations with him at the summit meeting, which gathered more than 50 world leaders to discuss ways to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack, whether from the leakage of nuclear fuel or the theft of a bomb by a terrorist group.
“Our alliance with Japan and the Republic of Korea,” the president added, “is one of the foundations, the cornerstone of our presence in the Asia-Pacific region. It has underwritten the peace and prosperity of that region.” “Even those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to U.S. elections because they understand that the president of the United States needs to know what’s going on around the world,” Mr. Obama said.
Earlier Friday, Mr. Obama made the case that his marquee diplomatic accomplishment in nonproliferation — the nuclear deal with Iran — had “achieved a substantial success.” For the president, the two-day Nuclear Security Summit underscored both the loftiness of his vision for a nuclear-free planet and the hurdles of translating it into reality in a world of insecure leaders and of terrorist groups plotting to seize those weapons. But it was the remarks of an American presidential candidate that most roiled the waters.
Because of restrictions that the deal imposed on Iran’s nuclear program, Mr. Obama said, it would now take the Iranians about a year to build a bomb — if it breached the deal — as opposed to two to three months before the diplomatic effort began in mid-2012. Mr. Trump said he was open to allowing Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons to deter their rogue neighbor, North Korea. He also declined to rule out using nuclear weapons in a military conflict in Europe, saying, “you don’t want to, say, take everything off the table.”
Speaking before a meeting of leaders from the major powers that negotiated with Iran, Mr. Obama listed accomplishments of the agreement: Iran, he said, had dismantled two-thirds of its installed centrifuges, shipped 98 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile out of the country and removed the plutonium reactor core from the nuclear plant at Arak, filling it in with concrete. He first broached the issue of a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea in an interview with The New York Times last week, putting it in the context of his case that the United States should no longer bear the full burden of defending its Asian allies. He defended his comments in a town-hall-style meeting on Tuesday in Milwaukee, televised by CNN.
The president insisted that much of the trade embargo on Iran remained in place, countering critics who argue that the West had freed up tens of billions of dollars that Iran could use to finance proxy wars and terrorism throughout the Middle East. “You have so many countries already — China, Pakistan, you have so many countries, Russia — you have so many countries right now that have them,” he said. “Now, wouldn’t you rather, in a certain sense, have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?” A senior Japanese government official quickly reiterated that it was Japan’s policy never to possess nuclear weapons.
Mr. Obama said the United States would “vigorously enforce” sanctions against Iran for supporting terrorism, violating human rights and continuing its ballistic missile program. But he did not refer specifically to Iran’s recent tests of missiles, which the United States and its European allies have said were in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Those tests have prompted calls for new sanctions against Iran. On Friday, Mr. Obama described the alliance with Japan and South Korea as “one of the cornerstones of our presence in the Asia-Pacific region” — one that was paid for with the sacrifices of American soldiers during World War II, one that has expanded American influence and commerce and one that “has underwritten the peace and prosperity of that region.”
Russia has split with the United States on this issue, arguing that the tests did not violate the United Nations resolution because there was no evidence that the missiles were being equipped to carry nuclear warheads. Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, is the most prominent no-show at the Nuclear Security Summit, a biannual gathering conceived and championed by Mr. Obama. “You don’t mess with that,” Mr. Obama added.
Mr. Obama conceded disagreements among the countries that negotiated with Iran. But he said the group agreed “that this deal has achieved a substantial success, and focused on the dangers of nuclear proliferation in an effective way.” In summarizing the accomplishments of these Nuclear Security Summits — this was the fourth and final one of his presidency — Mr. Obama acknowledged a tension between his emphasis on nonproliferation and the American military’s relentless efforts to improve the efficiency of its existing stockpile of nuclear warheads. These American technological advances rattle Russia and China, which cite it as a pretext to develop their own new weapons.
As the leaders gathered at Washington’s convention center, the White House released a series of technical announcements on nuclear safety: the removal of excess plutonium and highly-enriched uranium from Germany; the elimination of stockpiles of highly enriched uranium in Argentina and Indonesia; the reduction of these stockpiles in Poland, Kazakhstan and seven other countries; and an agreement with Japan to remove highly-enriched uranium and separated plutonium from plants there. “I’ve tried to strike the proper balance,” Mr. Obama said. He noted that he had tried to negotiate a further round of arms reductions with Russia after the New Start treaty. But the return to the presidency of Vladimir V. Putin ended those prospects. In the meantime, he said, the United States needed to make sure its stockpile was “safe and reliable.”
Mr. Putin boycotted this meeting, which foreclosed the possibility of ambitious agreements, since Russia is one of the world’s two largest nuclear-weapons states, along with the United States.
Earlier on Friday, Mr. Obama argued that his marquee accomplishment in nonproliferation — the nuclear deal with Iran — had “achieved a substantial success.” Because of restrictions that the deal imposed on Iran’s nuclear program, he said, it would now take the Iranians about a year to build a bomb — if it breached the deal — as opposed to two to three months before the diplomatic effort began in mid-2012.
Asked about reports that the Treasury Department would allow Iran to conduct transactions in United States dollars, Mr. Obama said that was not the approach he favored, though he did not rule it out. The reports have drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers, including Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who urged the White House not to go ahead.
Mr. Obama emphasized that Iran could process transactions through European banks. Beyond that, he said Tehran could attract more American businesses by adhering not just to the letter of the nuclear deal but to its spirit, which meant not shipping missiles to the militant group Hezbollah, or otherwise destabilizing the region.
The attacks in Brussels and Paris led the president to add a session on terrorism and nuclear security. After banishing reporters and cameras from the room, he showed the leaders a video depicting a terrorist attack in a city involving a nuclear device. Afterward, the leaders discussed how they would handle such an attack.
“Fortunately, no terrorist group has yet succeeded in getting their hands on a nuclear device,” Mr. Obama told them beforehand. “Our work here will help insure that we’re doing everything possible to prevent that.”
The meeting generated a laundry list of announcements, including the reduction of stockpiles of highly enriched uranium in countries from Poland to Kazakhstan, and an agreement to remove separate plutonium from Japan. The nature of these gatherings is that each nation brings along its “gifts,” or proposed offerings, and American officials say that having the leaders all show up for the summit creates a forcing mechanism to get that work done.
But there are also moments that reveal behind-the-scenes disagreements, and one was evident Friday with Japan.
The energy secretary, Ernest J. Moniz, appeared with a senior Japanese official to celebrate the removal of half a ton of highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium, which was shipped to the United States. But the two men took no questions, leaving the Japanese unchallenged about the fact that they are moving ahead on a new plutonium reprocessing plant that should produce up to eight tons of plutonium each year.
That raises concern that Japan will sit on a large supply of nuclear fuel, always a source of tension with its neighbors. Francie Israeli, an Energy Department spokeswoman, said that Japan had removed some of the most sensitive materials and that “we understand that they intend to balance any future reprocessing activities with consumption or disposition.”