US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, threatened on Thursday that the United States will push for more sanctions on Iran after the Iranian leadership failed in responding to a bid by several European countries to persuade Iran to freeze its Uranium Enrichment plan. Rice added that now Iran has a way out of this issue, and threatened that the US will “seriously seek sanctions if the Iranian government does not comply”.
She claimed that the United States does not view Iran as a “permanent enemy” but has been tough with the country and supported three sets of sanctions against it.
The United States is attempting to convince it allies that the Iranian Nuclear Program could be a cover-up for developing nuclear weapons, but Iran says that it has the right to develop nuclear technology which it uses in generating electricity for its increasing population.
Rice also stated that the United States does not support, object to or void the possibility of an attack against Tehran but will not Vito any attack carried by Israel.
In an Interview with Yahoo News, Rice said that the United States is having ongoing talks with Israel regarding this issue, and added that Israel prefers the political path in resolving the issue in addition to economic sanctions against Iran.
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said during a interview with an Italian newspaper that the Israeli army is “preparing for an overwhelming victory if Israel was attacked by Iran” and demanded the International Community to speed-up and tighten the sanction on Tehran.
In related news, the Russian ambassador at the UN, Vitaly Churkin, denied allegation that there are coordinated agreements or understandings to impose new sanctions on Iran.
Talking to reporters in New York, Churkin said that some countries are pushing the issue of sanctions from time to time but his country did not set an ultimatum to Tehran to respond to the European bid. He added that Iran might accept the offer.
A spokesperson of the US Foreign Ministry stated that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States) in addition to Germany expressed disappointment that Tehran did not present a clear response to what they described as the “generous offer”.
The new incentive is that in exchange for an Iranian freeze of uranium enrichment, Iran will be offered trade and technology incentives.
On Wednesday the United States and the United Kingdom said that the six countries (China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany) have no other choice now but to seek new sanctions as “Iran failed to give a clear and positive response”.
The United States and Britain said that there is an agreement now to discuss a new sanction resolution at the Security Council.
The United States and its allies believe that Iran’s nuclear program could be just a cover up to enable the country develop atomic weapons, but Iran says that it has the right to develop nuclear energy in order to generate electricity.
