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Last update - 13:58 22/02/2010
Obama: Iran sanctions in weeks over nuclear program
By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Tags: Israel news, Iran nuclear
U.S. president says despite Tehran's denials it is clear to him that Iran is pursuing 'nuclear weaponization.'
 

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday said a new push toward international sanctions against Iran is moving along fairly quickly and should be completed in the next few weeks.

In an impromptu news conference, Obama provided his most extensive comments about Iran in weeks, saying that despite Tehran's denials it is clear to him that Iran is pursuing a path toward "nuclear weaponization."

He said the international community is looking at a significant regime of sanctions that will provide a "variety of ways" to apply pressure to Iran's government, without detailing them.
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Obama said the United States is confident the world is "unified around Iran's misbehavior in this area."

Of two allies who have been reluctant to approve new UN sanctions in the past, Russia and China, Obama said he was pleased by how Russia has been "forward-leaning" lately but was uncertain about China.

"How China operates at the Security Council as we pursue sanctions is something we're going to have to see," he said.

Obama said it was unclear who actually speaks for the Iranian government, saying it was giving "mixed signals."

The Islamic Republic, which denies its program has military aims, defied the international community by announcing on Sunday that it would enrich uranium to 20-percent purity for a Tehran reactor making medical isotopes for cancer patients.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Fox News earlier Tuesday: "I think it's going to take some period of time - I would say weeks, not months - to see if we can't get another UN Security Council resolution," according to the transcript of his interview.

Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley on Tuesday said that U.S. is ready to work with Iran, but "we need to see Iran to come to the table and address our concerns."

"We have remained extremely flexible - we want to find a way to address the legitimate needs of Iran,: Crowley said. "But in the absence of constructive engagement of Iran, we are now paying significant attention to the second track because Iran is unwilling to come to the table."

Russia official: Iran testing the world's patience

Iran's decision to enrich uranium to higher levels has raised new doubts about Tehran's nuclear program and is testing the patience of the global community, Russian officials said Tuesday.

The tough statements appeared to indicate that Russia is increasingly warming up to the U.S. push for a new set of international sanctions against Iran.

"Iran says it doesn't want to have nuclear weapons. But its actions, including its decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent, have raised doubts among other nations, and these doubts are quite well-founded," Nikolai Patrushev, the chief of Russia's Security Council, said in televised remarks.

World powers fear the Iranian nuclear program might be a cover for building atomic weapons. Iran says the program is peaceful and aims to generate power for its growing population.

The U.S. and France said the Iranian announcement that it would enrich uranium to 20 percent left no choice but to push harder for a fourth set of United Nations Security Council sanctions to punish Iran's nuclear defiance. Iran said Tuesday it had started enrichment under UN supervision.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also criticized the Iranian move, saying that it defies the UN Security Council resolutions and would deepen doubts of the sincerity of Iran's intentions to assuage international concerns about its nuclear program.

Patrushev urged Iran to cooperate more actively with the UN nuclear watchdog to assuage international concerns about its enrichment effort. He also warned there are limits to the world's patience regarding Iran's defiance.

"What matters is not whether or not sanctions will be imposed," Patrushev said. "What matters is to settle the process. Political and diplomatic methods are important in the settlement, but everything has its limit and there are limits to patience."

Patrushev also pointed out that Israel, in particular, has refused to rule out the use of force against Iran. "It's very important to avert a war," he said.

Russia has walked a fine line on Iran for years. It is one of the six powers leading efforts to ensure Iran does not develop an atomic bomb. But it also has tried to maintain friendly ties with the Islamic Republic, a regional power close to Russia's vulnerable southern flank.

Russia has been building Iran's first nuclear power plant, whose launch has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for some unspecified time this year.

Netanyahu calls for 'immediate, crippling sanctions'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for immediate and "crippling" sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, as the Islamic Republic began making higher-grade nuclear fuel in defiance of international censure.

"Iran is racing forward to produce nuclear weapons ... I believe that what is required right now is tough action by the international community," Netanyahu told European diplomats.

"This means not moderate sanctions, or watered-down sanctions. This means crippling sanctions and these sanctions must be applied right now," he said in a short message to underscore Israel's concern over the latest developments.

Netanyahu's language implied Israel would not be content with so-called "targeted sanctions" which Western diplomats have predicted could be pursued against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and other assets of the Tehran leadership.

"In the last two days the brutal regime in Tehran has made more outrageous statements including the implicit call for the extermination of my country," Netanyahu told the EU ambassadors.

He did not repeat veiled threats Israel has made in the past to attack Iran's nuclear facilities in a pre-emptive strike.

A spokesman of the atomic agency, Ali Shirzadian, said Tuesday morning that "preparatory work" had started at 9:30 A.M. local time and that production would formally get under way at about 1 P.M.

"Today we started to make 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel ... in the presence of IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors," an unnamed official told Iran's Arabic-language state television, al-Alam.

Reacting to the announcement, the United States said on Tuesday it wanted the United Nations Security Council to move quickly to enforce sanctions on Iran, demanding approval of a resolution "within weeks, not months."

But China, which like the U.S. holds a Security Council veto, remains reluctant to support sanctions and on Tuesday called for more talks in the wake of calls by other world powers for possible sanctions on Iran over its nuclear developments.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu refused to comment on sanctions
at a news conference, saying only: "I hope the relevant parties will step up efforts and push for progress in the dialogue and negotiations."
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  1.   All Credit To Iran! 08:54  |  Michael 09/02/10
  2.   Defiant? 09:15  |  John The American 09/02/10
  3.   FM Kouchner: "This is real blackmail" 09:44  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/02/10
  4.   Wake up John 10:03  |  SDHD 09/02/10
  5.   Only Israel`s tame Western politicians care. 10:11  |  Michael 09/02/10
  6.   Michael 1: Iran has run out of credit. It is BANKRUPT 10:31  |  Realist 09/02/10
  7.   Iran boasts. 10:44  |  David Nigel Braham 09/02/10
  8.   Must they let die their cancer patients? 10:47  |  j.a.g. van eimeren 09/02/10
  9.   Realist 6 Netanyahu`s morally BANKRUPT. So what? 11:10  |  Michael 09/02/10
  10.   Must they let die their cancer patients? 11:10  |  Dov 09/02/10
  11.   Ignore it. It`s useless to them 11:18  |  JO 09/02/10
  12.   SDHD I`ll tell you what I`m "blubbering" about 11:25  |  John The American 09/02/10
  13.   #8 j.a.g. van eimeren - 10 enrichment plants for isotopes? 11:35  |  S 09/02/10
  14.   Learning by history 13:07  |  Daniel 09/02/10
  15.   #4 SDHD 13:28  |  Johnboy 09/02/10
  16.   Accept our [The West`s] proposals or else...not blackmail?! 13:40  |  Roo 09/02/10
  17.   Why should we do what netanyahu says 14:10  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/02/10
  18.   what a stoopid regime..... 14:19  |  watcher 09/02/10
  19.   "Crippling" Iranian sanctions 14:28  |  DT 09/02/10
  20.   Oh brother, is Bibi for real? 14:41  |  American Citizen 09/02/10
  21.   Peace 14:44  |  Max 09/02/10
  22.   Crippling sanctions? For example? 14:49  |  Natallie Durson 09/02/10
  23.   Micharl/UK - warped sense of humor from rotten kingdom 14:50  |  17 09/02/10
  24.   Israel cried wolf and no one cares 14:54  |  American Citizen 09/02/10
  25.   If Lebanon,Syria,Palestine,Egypt Jordan 14:59  |  Peter 09/02/10
  26.   Since the International Community cant agree on sanctions... 15:09  |  Avi 09/02/10
  27.   Israel needs to join the npt and come clean on it,s 15:12  |  Labhras 09/02/10
  28.   Natalie says: Relax to the inevitable... hah! 15:17  |  Avi 09/02/10
  29.   #17 Why, exactly, watcher? 15:17  |  Johnboy 09/02/10
  30.   "brazen defiance" 15:22  |  edgar 09/02/10
  31.   Netanyahu, take a valium 15:26  |  John Spear 09/02/10
  32.   "forget it and live with it" 15:28  |  Ol` Case 09/02/10
  33.   questions for Natalie the articulate anti-Israelite 15:38  |  Avi 09/02/10
  34.   Johnboy, you obviously haven`t read IAEA reports 15:44  |  Avi 09/02/10
  35.   Correct Labhras... Israel is a small fish 15:50  |  Avi 09/02/10
  36.   In the bluntest possible terms ... 16:03  |  Morris Valentine 09/02/10
  37.   How about some crippling Israel sanctions too? 16:05  |  american 09/02/10
  38.   Fake out 16:06  |  Dave 09/02/10
  39.   Double Standards! 16:13  |  Tony Silver 09/02/10
  40.   israel is in the same position of Iran. 16:15  |  Tony Silver 09/02/10
  41.   iran has the right to have its nuclear facilities 16:16  |  Tony Silver 09/02/10
  42.   IRAN 16:20  |  Honest Observation 09/02/10
  43.   Sanctions? what sanctions did israel have when 16:22  |  Tony Silver 09/02/10
  44.   to enrich just 20% is normal for Medical use. 16:28  |  Tony Silver 09/02/10
  45.   Italy Embassy under attack 16:31  |  Giorgio 09/02/10
  46.   Iranians are Smart 16:44  |  Iranian 09/02/10
  47.   Sanctions 16:54  |  Gershon Ron 09/02/10
  48.   Morris Valentine-`destroy them now` please take meds 16:54  |  Roo 09/02/10
  49.   Reply to American 16:57  |  Miami Man 09/02/10
  50.   Morris Valentine- please take meds `destroy them now` 16:59  |  Roo 09/02/10
  51.   #2 JOHN THE AMERICAN 17:03  |  BIG SUR 09/02/10
  52.   John the American: blubbering 17:03  |  NYC Guy 09/02/10
  53.   Tony Silver 17:04  |  Ol` Case 09/02/10
  54.   crippling sanctions? like those imposed on gaza? 17:05  |  CleanCut 09/02/10
  55.   Iran goals are to enrich many thousands at same time, to use 90% 17:07  |  Jose Pedro 09/02/10
  56.   John the blind American 17:11  |  DR 09/02/10
  57.   to Natalie (in Iran) Durson #22 17:14  |  Big Sur 09/02/10
  58.   #27 Lahbrasserie, haha good one 17:22  |  Big Sur 09/02/10
  59.   Despite Iranian denials, Western powers fear Iran is enriching ur 17:23  |  a jew 09/02/10
  60.   Clean Cut how many Arab Countries ran to the Aid of Haiti? 17:29  |  Big Sur 09/02/10
  61.   Roo I see Morris is still suffering from post colonial 17:32  |  Labhras 09/02/10
  62.   #49 Roo you mean the Aussies Canadians and Brits as well as ameri 17:35  |  Big Sur 09/02/10
  63.   46 Why did you leave Iran for Australia, "proud" Iranian? 17:58  |  Realist 09/02/10
  64.   Despite Sanctions Iran did well! 18:01  |  Lucy 09/02/10
  65.   Crippling Israel sanctions needed now! 18:08  |  Pablo Luis 09/02/10
  66.   Big Sur. how unoriginal. 18:28  |  Roo 09/02/10
  67.   A point for less militant Israelis 18:37  |  Walter 09/02/10
  68.   #36 Morris Valentine 18:54  |  Mark B. 09/02/10
  69.   #29 Johnboy 19:07  |  Joe W 09/02/10
  70.   Russia warns its Mullah friend that his murder game is up 19:08  |  Realist 09/02/10
  71.   I WAS for diplomacy 19:10  |  Mike 09/02/10
  72.   Russia`s hand is tipping 19:10  |  Walter 09/02/10
  73.   Johnboy, clearly without a clue 19:13  |  SDHD 09/02/10
  74.   Johnboy isn`t as smart as he thinks 19:15  |  SDHD 09/02/10
  75.   I name the one 19:20  |  Carlos 09/02/10
  76.   Another installment of blabber by Johnboy # 15 19:30  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 09/02/10
  77.   #64 Lucy and Lunacy 19:31  |  Big Sur 09/02/10
  78.   Big Sur. 19:44  |  Roo 09/02/10
  79.   Proxy war 19:45  |  Mike 09/02/10
  80.   Answer to #13 19:54  |  j.a.g. van eimeren 09/02/10
  81.   #73 20:00  |  LM 09/02/10
  82.   Sanctions aren´t work, only an big attack on nuclear sites will 20:00  |  Jose Pedro 09/02/10
  83.   19:58 Barak: I strongly object to bid for Israelis abroad to vo 20:10  |  a jew 09/02/10
  84.   Big Sur, most arab countries helped Haiti... 20:15  |  CleanCut 09/02/10
  85.   SARAH PALIN IS ALSO ZIONIST CRIMINAL TERRORIST 20:32  |  a jew 09/02/10
  86.   #42 IRAN 20:33  |  Dorothy 09/02/10
  87.   Even worse... 20:46  |  W 09/02/10
  88.   Roo and the politics of personal attack (#48) 01:42  |  Morris Valentine 10/02/10
  89.   Iran is a two edge sword ! 01:42  |  Akram Zekaria 10/02/10
  90.   #76 A quote from 1696 would be nice, Darthie 01:49  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  91.   #73 Pontification as proof, SDHD? 01:59  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  92.   #34 Avi 02:06  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  93.   #74 Huh, SDHD? 02:16  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  94.   obama: iran ...... 02:25  |  sjoerd van der velde 10/02/10
  95.   Let`s see now...... 02:25  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  96.   Crippling Strikes on Nuclear Facilities 03:03  |  Gary 10/02/10
  97.   Is Obama still on vacation 03:23  |  daat y 10/02/10
  98.   #76 Darth does makes me laugh 03:29  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  99.   crippling israel 03:31  |  margaret 10/02/10
  100.   No amount of sanctions... 03:43  |  Mark 10/02/10
  101.   #36 War by pontification, Morris? 03:48  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  102.   #22 Natallie Durson... the transgressions of the few 04:26  |  allang 10/02/10
  103.   United sanctions 04:37  |  Larry Golden 10/02/10
  104.   Iran 04:44  |  Berthume 10/02/10
  105.   There is a problem with `immediate, crippling sanctions`, or even 05:55  |  Richard Pearce 10/02/10
  106.   Darth Zaider (Ed) Seems you`ve not actually read the NTP or the 06:12  |  c 10/02/10
  107.   It`s Israel that needs crippling sanctions 06:46  |  John 10/02/10
  108.   Which Country is more Dangerous 07:19  |  Steven 10/02/10
  109.   Obama puts off till tomorrow what he can do 07:48  |  Josiah J. Ben David 10/02/10
  110.   What is a Crippling Sanction? 08:40  |  Mark of Lewiston 10/02/10
  111.   Free Palestine 08:54  |  H 10/02/10
  112.   #74 Is that so, SDHD? (2nd try) 10:19  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  113.   #76 2nd try to explain this to Darthie 10:20  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  114.   #34 3rd try to respond to avi 10:22  |  Johnboy 10/02/10
  115.   Iranian news 10:23  |  Walter 10/02/10
  116.   83 "jew" you object to everything. Who cares? 11:19  |  Realist 10/02/10
  117.   H Uh? East Timor, Sri Lanka are not Muslim 13:31  |  CJ 10/02/10
  118.   Iranians in Melbourne, cheerleaders in Ire, Denmark and Florida 14:54  |  ZISD 10/02/10
  119.   need to be honest please 17:03  |  marwan 10/02/10
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