Washington: Noting that the international
community is united around Iran`s misbehaviour, US President
Barack Obama has said it will be worth watching how China
operates at the United Nations Security Council where his
Administration is likely to propose additional sanctions
against Tehran.
The US President appreciated Russia`s role and said
there were all indications that Iran was moving towards
weaponisation programme, and "if Iran`s attitude does not
change, the next step would be sanctions against them."
He expressed confidence that the international
community was unified around Iran`s misbehaviour
"How China operates at the Security Council as we
pursue sanctions is something that we`re going to have to
see," Obama told reporters at the White House.
The President was pleased to see how "forward-leaning"
the Russians have been on the issue.
"I think they clearly have seen that Iran hasn`t been
serious about solving what was a solvable dispute between Iran
and the international community," he said.
Obama, in response to a question, said international
community bent over backwards to say to Iran that they were
willing to have a constructive conversation on how the Islamic
republic could align itself with the international norms and
rules and re-enter as full member of the community.
The most obvious attempt was when the international
community offered Iran to convert some of low-enriched
uranium, that they already have, into the isotopes that they
need for their medical research and for hospitals that would
serve up to a million Iranian citizens, Obama said.
"They rejected it - although one of the difficulties
in dealing with Iran over the last several months was that it
was not clear who was speaking on behalf of the government,
and we got a lot of different, mixed signals," he said.
"But what`s clear was that they have not said yes to
an agreement that Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and
the US all said was a good deal and the director of the IAEA
said that the right thing to do was to accept it," Obama said.
That indicates that, despite their posturing that
their nuclear power was only for civilian use, that they in
fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to
weaponisation, the President said, adding "it was not
acceptable to international community, not just to the US."
He said if Iran wants to accept the kind of agreements
with the international community which lead to being a member
of good standing, "then we welcome you, and if not, then the
next step is sanctions".
"They have made their choice so far, although the door
was still open. What we were going to work upon over the next
several weeks was to develop a significant regime of sanctions
that would indicate to them how isolated they were from the
international community as a whole," Obama said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for Public
Affairs PJ Crowley said that Iranian decision to improve
their processing to 20 perscent was an unnecessary step and
"they were working against their own long-term self-interest".
He said that Iran had missed an opportunity to engage
constructively and seriously with the international community
despite it "bent over backwards" in an attempt to provide the
Islamic nation the benefits of civilian nuclear programme.
The State Department official said that Iran decision
to improve their processing to 20 percent as "provocative and
it deepens our concern about what Iran`s real intentions are
and the country was technically not capable of doing the
processing.
Crowley said the international community had put
forward the Tehran Research Reactor proposal "in good-faith
and thinking it to be practical and doable".
"But if Iran did not want to accept it, there were
others available. What really had to happen here was for Iran
to sit down, identify what it really felt it needs, and work
with the international community constructively on potential
solutions, and in doing so start to build confidence about its
intentions," Crowley said.
He said that the US would continue to consult with its
counterparts within the P-5 plus on the process.
PTI
