‘US gradually moving forward to impose sanctions on Iran`

The United States is in talks with its international partners to impose additional set of economic sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

Washington: The United States is in talks with its international partners to impose additional set of economic sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
"We want as much support as we can possibly muster, and we want to be sure that we are aiming at the mindset of the Iranians so that they understand that the international community will not be turning a blind eye to their continuing violations of Security Council obligations of International Atomic Energy Agency regulations," Hillary told CNN.

But it is premature to talk in specifics, she said.

"I don`t want to pre-empt the consideration that other countries will be given to this, but it is very much our agenda to move forward," Hillary said, adding that she talked about this with several world leaders during her meeting on the sidelines of the London conference.

These fresh set of sanctions are basically aimed at the Revolutionary Guard, which control key elements of the Iranian economy.

"Well, they have a lot of business interests, as we have discovered. And our assessment is that the sanctions will be tough and clearly aimed at the Iranian economy, but that the international community does not have a choice, that this is, unfortunately, a situation in which the behaviour of the Iranian Government, not just in this instance but what they`re
doing to protesters and demonstrators," Hillary said.

"Their society is under a lot of stress. We think it`s imperative to change the calculus of the leadership, and we think this is an appropriate way to proceed, so we are pursuing it," Hillary said.

However, she said these proposed sanctions are not meant to punish Iran.

"It is meant to change their behaviour and it`s not meant as a target at any one person. It`s meant to change the calculation of the leadership, whether that leadership is in the supreme leader`s office or in the Revolutionary Guard or the president or anyone else," she argued.

"I think that it`s hard to sit here and predict exactly how Iran will respond, because we still are open to the diplomatic track, but we haven`t seen much to really prove that they`re willing to engage with us," Hillary said.

"I think the time has come for the international community to say, no, we cannot permit your continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. It is destabilising, it is dangerous, and we`re going to take a stand against you," she said.

Hillary said if the Iranian leadership had accepted the offer that the US made on the Tehran research reactor to ship out their low-enriched uranium, there would have been no talks of sanctions.

"It was their choice. They chose not to. And I think that the Iranian people are at a crossroads. They have the opportunity to demand more from their own leadership, which has, obviously, from the outside, appeared to have failed the Iranian people and failed the very principles that they claim to govern by. So the voices of protest, the voices of opposition, are going to continue to challenge this regime in Iran," she said.

"But the outside world is not involved in that. This is an internal societal matter for Iranians to decide. What the outside world is concerned about is their nuclear programme. Absent a nuclear programme, we would still be expressing our regrets and our condemnation of their behaviour toward their citizens, but we would not be looking for sanctions. We are looking for sanctions because their nuclear ambitions threaten the rest of the world," Hillary argued.

PTI

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