U.S. official: World sees need to sanction Iran
UN official says Security Council could discuss new round of Iran sanctions in two months.
By News Agencies and Haaretz Service Tags: Russia Iran sanctions Israel news Iran nuclearThe international community realizes that there are consequences to Iran's continued defiance of the international community regarding its contentious nuclear program, a State Department official told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are exploring a range of options to achieve our objectives of securing Iran's compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and UNSCR resolutions," the official said.
Referring to recent comments made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding the U.S. stance over Iran's nuclear program, the official said that Washington believed "that there is growing understanding in the international community that Iran should face consequences for its defiance of international obligations regarding its nuclear program."
In a joint press conference with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday, Clinton had said that "Iran is not living up to its responsibilities and we are working with our partners in the international community to increase pressure on Iran to change course."
Also on Tuesday, Gabon's UN envoy said that the UN Security Council might take up this month the issue of Iran's nuclear program and Western proposals for a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran.
Ambassador Emanuel Issoze-Ngondet, who is president of the Security Council for the month of March, said the Iranian nuclear issue was not on the agenda of the 15-nation panel this month, but council members might still hold a meeting on it.
"We think the question could come to the table [in March]," Issoze-Ngondet told reporters through an interpreter. "But right now we are waiting. We're following the process that's ongoing. We're waiting for the right time to bring the Security Council to deal with it."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Western diplomats told Reuters the United States, Britain, France and Germany have prepared a draft proposal -- which they hope China and Russia will support - for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program.
The four Western powers had hoped to secure an agreement among the six as early as this week, so they could submit it to the full Security Council for discussion. But it has been difficult getting China to negotiate, the diplomats said.
"We still don't know what China thinks," a diplomat told Reuters.
China and Russia have close business ties to Tehran, but Moscow has indicated its willingness to support further punitive measures against the Islamic Republic, which rejects Western allegations that its nuclear program is a cover for developing the capability to build atomic weapons.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on there was still room for diplomacy rather than sanctions to produce a solution to the dispute with Iran over its nuclear program.
"We will concentrate all efforts on finding political and diplomatic solutions. These efforts have not yet been exhausted," Lavrov told journalists during a trip to Paris.
Lavrov said his comments were in line with a statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who on Monday said Moscow would back new sanctions against Iran as long as they did not create a humanitarian crisis. Lavrov is accompanying Medvedev on an official visit to France for talks that touched on Iran sanctions.
After meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Medvedev said he still hoped to avoid new punitive measures, but added Russia could not wait forever for cooperation by Tehran, suspected by the West of developing nuclear weapons.
Both Russia and China have been reluctant in the past to endorse any broader sanctions against Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons.
A draft fourth Security Council resolution is expected as soon as this week. Some Western diplomats have predicted it would contain a "symbolic" tightening of sanctions against Iranian government assets.
'Iran is a runaway train, the world a broken-down car'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday likened Iran's nuclear developments to a runaway train and the international community a car on the brink of collapsing.
"There is a technological clock and a diplomatic clock," Netanyahu told a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "The technological clock is like a runaway train and the international community like a car that is about to decouple."
The prime minister said that world powers were in agreement over this sentiment, and that efforts to stop this phenomenon have increased over the last year.
He said that an Israeli delegation dispatched to China of late was focused on clarifying the problems posed by Iran's policies, and described Israel and China as having a "wide range of mutual interests."
The prime minister added that he had been unable to secure Russia's support for harsher sanctions against Iran during his recent visit to Moscow, but said he witnessed "more understanding there regarding the dangers the Iranian nuclear program poses to us, to regional peace and world stability."
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...Israel should be the target. It has failed to acknowledge its own stockpiling and sites and how corrupt and hypocritical US officials look upping the ante on Iran and not on Israel. Dutch
NO Nor will Iran.
U.S. official:? World sees need to sanction Iran and Israel!
Just read all these comments about the Iranian issues. It is always the voice of the "people" of the world, that sides with Iran. That is not just for the sack of Iran, but because the people are smart enough now, not to be manipulated by Israelis. I think, thoes days are gone that Israeli could easily manipulate the world opinion. Iranian government is not the ultimate choice, but so is the Israelis. Also no more blood shedding for the sack of zionists. Peace for all
Guess Russia and China just don't qualify anymore. Sounds like something Clinton would craft. Heaven help us all and no more needs to be said.
no. 15, peter from florida, you are 100% right. i hope that you can convince as many people as is possible. i am also busy in doing this.i wish you luck.
are two entirely different issues.
Israel is reputed to have had nuclear weapons for the last 40 years. And yet, during that time, not a single Arab State has felt sufficiently threatened by Israel's program to pursue its own nuclear weapons program. It has only been since Iran started pursuing an enrichment program that the Arab States have started to get worried and to foreshadow that they might have to follow suit.
taking instructions from a "little country like Israel" maybe you ought to stop being a bunch of pussies and develop a backbone....or perhaps this "little country like Israel" is the pussy and its taking instruction from the bigger pussy, the US.
....because sanctions never worked in the past, unless you start with a full scale boycott (like in the case of Apartheid South Africa). But that most probably won't happen with Iran.
Maybe the US reluctance in getting heavy with Iran can be explained in the newly revealed US Defence symbol...the star and crescent
I thought they were supposed to discuss it LAST month, now it'll be another 2 months. Obviously they are hoping that either Iran test fires a nuke or Israel wipes out the program before they have to make a decision. Look what the UN dithering did for Rwanda. They are totally useless. No wonder no one pays attention to their resolutions.
"The concept that its ok for Iran to have nukes because Israel has them and the world can rest easy because as long as they both have them neither will use them is NUTS. The leadership of Iran wants to bring the 12th Imam and to do that the world must be in chaos and if in that chaotic state Israel can be destroyed all the better. Israel must wake up the US isnt going to impose a Cuba like embargo Russia is dragging its feet on agreeing to sanctions and you can forget about China. Israel needs to act on its own and strike Iran now." Whenever I see wingnuts talking about 12th Immam's or caliphates, I know they are either zionists or the poor brainwashed christian-zionists. As if Israel is any saner than Iran? As if people like you, religious fanatics are any better than a Jewish fanatic or an Islamic fanatic? None of them should have WMD's of any sort. Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan or North Korea. The settlers of Israel have shown who is in charge there and their having WMD is scary
The 'world' which is helping to protect America's petrodollar, and helping America invade foreign lands to gain more oil to feed that American petrodollar? It's all about Western (Zio-American) economics. Ahmadinejad says Capitalists greed behind global crisis. (PressTV 2 March 2010) He's right!
is unlikely. Israel may be forced to take military measures. Better pray for a quick Iranian revolution on the part of the opposition that could end the threat or all out war. Meanwhile the Iranians continue to be belligerent and have most recently threatened close the Persian Gulf which has already impacted global markets. In a sense, they have begun effective sanctions against the West. Perhaps that is why Obama has softened even more and decided to wait for UN sanctions...
The Russians, Chinese, Turks, Saudis, Egyptians are all saying yes sir no sir but in fact are managing the timeline of events that may have as it's outcome the announcement that Iran is nuclear armed. All concessions are carefully worded and timed, so that an Israeli or American attack will look unnecessary. An interesting gsme. Iran with nukes will make no difference to the situation as it is today.
the world has more than 6 billion people a few of whom (12 million) are jews
I lived through the entire time Cuba has been under US sanctions and they haven't budged even a little bit. Israel should stop with their hyper-fearful demands.
Because neither China nor Russian nor rest of Asiam The M.E. Africa and Latin american population do not support anything against Iran because they know very well that Iran is not capable of building a Nuke,. It takes much more than the 20 pct enrichement and they will not be there for a very long time. I am sick and tired to see my country taking instructions from a little country like israel. You should pressure israel to open Dimona to the IAEA, if there is nothing there to worry about then pressure Iran. We are sick and tired to see our tax dollar go to toher countries while we are broke.
The world minus most of it, some states, maybe
The Cuban blockade has never modified Cuba's behavior in any way -- certainly not in any way we find desirable. So yeah, it's been completely effective. It just hasn't worked at all. Where did you FIND this guy?
Just getting into the spirit of things here.
This is another case of mistaken identity, I think you're getting Gasoline confused with Napalm. You know the stuff the Americans used in Vietnam and Cambodia to great effect. Not bad after Nuking Japan.
israel wants to be the biggest power in the middle east
Listen to this and smell that.
The sky is falling The sky is falling
The mullahs don't hold as much power as you think, if you kept up on events in Iran. The revolutionary guard has been taking away power from them for some time now. However sanctions will probably help the mullahs gain back some power. I would not blame Iran if they wanted nuclear weapons since Israel has them,and if you look every where in the world where there are nuclear weapons there is always nuclear weapons available to the opposing country as a counter point. Israels nuclear weapons come with a price. Dispatching murder squads to kill their scientist only firms their resolve that they need a more powerful deterrent against what they see as an aggressive country.
The concept that its ok for Iran to have nukes because Israel has them and the world can rest easy because as long as they both have them neither will use them is NUTS. The leadership of Iran wants to bring the 12th Imam and to do that the world must be in chaos and if in that chaotic state Israel can be destroyed all the better. Israel must wake up the US isnt going to impose a Cuba like embargo Russia is dragging its feet on agreeing to sanctions and you can forget about China. Israel needs to act on its own and strike Iran now.
Sorry, but geographically speaking, you can not compare Iran to Cuba.While the far away from Russia,the mini-state Cuba could be easily isolated, the mega-state Iran can not.Just look to the map. Also, Iranian Oil can not be compared to Cuban sugar. Ask yourself: Who needed Cuban sugar and who needs Iranian oil.
west focuses on diplomacy, the Iranian mullahs are setting up structures all over the world for the destruction of constitutional freedoms. Obama and Europe are placing all the West's children in danger. Shame on them
"Iran is a runaway train slipping from world control" For Iran read Israel.
simply does not exist. Iran will achieve parity with Israel. Welcoe to the wonderful world of mutually Assured destruction. You will learn to love it.