Gottemoeller's comments on NPT and Israel stir speculation

Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said in a speech to the U.N., "Universal adherence to the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States."  Some saw the remark as indicative of a policy shift towards Israel, which Ploughshares grantee Avner Cohen says has long worried that Iran might link its nuclear concessions to opening Israel's presumed nuclear weapons program to international scrutiny. However, Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione commented, "This story is overblown. There is no change in the U.S. position. The U.S. has always supported universal adherence to the treaty. Rose just said it up front rather then burying it."

Cohen agreed Gottemoeller's nuanced comment was "amplified much beyond its real worth, to make it an example of, or evidence that, the Obama administration had already started to depart from its traditional backing of Israel." Cohen added, "I do not believe that is the case, surely not yet."