No, Clinton did not make a gaffe!

As you might have noticed today, one of the four square thumbnail photos on the FP home page has a photo of Secretary Clinton and the words: “Did Clinton Make a Gaffe Nobody Noticed?”

The words link to a post on The Cable about something Clinton said on Sunday’s Meet the Press. Addressing Iran, she said:

You have a right to pursue the peaceful use of civil nuclear power. You do not have a right to obtain a nuclear weapon. You do not have the right to have the full enrichment and reprocessing cycle under your control.”

Apparently, whether Iran has the right to enrich is up for debate. According to Rozen’s piece, many nonproliferation experts think Iran does have the right. Others, however, say Iran has lost that right because it violated conditions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), namely by hiding many of its nuclear activities for 18 years.

Did Clinton misspeak and thereby make a gaffe? Absolutely not. She was simply stating the United States’ position — held under both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations — that Iran has forfeited its right to enrich because it didn’t meet the terms of the NPT. An administration official told The Cable via e-mail: “She stated existing USG [U.S. government] policy, verbatim. So your folks are just plain wrong.”

Photo: Thumbnail photo from Meet the Press