10 January 2011

Clinton: Iran Sanctions Working, Need to Be Maintained

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says sanctions against Iran are working and urges the international community to maintain its pressure.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said economic sanctions are slowing down Iran’s ability to acquire nuclear weapons, and she urged Iran’s neighbors to maintain pressure on the country.

Speaking January 10 to university students in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Clinton said, “The most recent analysis is that sanctions have been working” and they “have made it much more difficult for Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions.”

She said technological problems have also forced Iran to “slow down its timetable.”

In remarks January 9 while en route to the United Arab Emirates, Clinton was asked about an Israeli intelligence assessment that said Iran may not have a nuclear weapons capability before 2015. She said the analysis should not detract from the serious concerns the international community has over Iran’s nuclear activities.

“The timeline is not so important as the international effort to try to ensure that, whatever the timeline, Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons,” Clinton said.

“I don’t know that it gives much comfort to somebody who is in the Gulf or is in a country that Iran has vowed to destroy that it’s a one-year or three-year time frame,” she added.

The United States has consistently told its friends and partners in the Middle East that “there is no part of the world that has more at stake in trying to deter Iran from becoming the creator and possessor of nuclear weapons than you,” the secretary said.

The regional and international focus should remain on the sanctions, which Clinton said “have had a very significant impact,” and she urged the international community to “keep that pressure on.”

Iran’s nuclear activities are “a serious concern,” she said. “We expect all of our partners who share that concern, as these countries certainly do, to stay as focused as they can and to do everything within reason that will help to implement these sanctions.”

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)