'US to block Iran on nukes, sanctions will take time'
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
WASHINGTON, Mar 22 (AFP): US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the United States will not 'compromise its commitment' to prevent Iran getting a nuclear bomb, but sanctions that bite will take time.
In excerpts of a speech she will deliver to the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Clinton said it "is taking time to produce these sanctions... but we will not compromise our commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring these weapons."
Clinton said that elements in Iran's government have become a menace, both to their own people and in the region, saying that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fomented anti-Semitism and threatened to destroy Israel.
"In addition to threatening Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran would embolden its terrorist clientele and would spark an arms race that could destabilize the region," the secretary of state said.
"This is unacceptable. Unacceptable to the United States. Unacceptable to Israel. And unacceptable to the region and the international community."
She added that the United States was determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"We are working with our partners in the United Nations on new Security Council sanctions that will show Iran's leaders that there are real consequences for their intransigence, that the only choice is to live up to their international obligations," Clinton said. "Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite."
She noted that it was taking time to produce these sanctions, but added that the US administration believed that time was a worthwhile investment for winning the broadest possible support for its efforts.
Meanwhile, European Union (EU) foreign ministers agreed on Monday to act to put an end to Iranian state censorship, saying the jamming of satellite broadcasts and Internet controls are "unacceptable."
Europe "calls on the Iranian authorities to stop the jamming of satellite broadcasting and Internet censorship and to put an end to this electronic interference immediately," the bloc's 27 foreign ministers said in an agreed text.
Iranian authorities have cracked down on the media and arrested scores of journalists since anti-government protests erupted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last June.
In excerpts of a speech she will deliver to the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Clinton said it "is taking time to produce these sanctions... but we will not compromise our commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring these weapons."
Clinton said that elements in Iran's government have become a menace, both to their own people and in the region, saying that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fomented anti-Semitism and threatened to destroy Israel.
"In addition to threatening Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran would embolden its terrorist clientele and would spark an arms race that could destabilize the region," the secretary of state said.
"This is unacceptable. Unacceptable to the United States. Unacceptable to Israel. And unacceptable to the region and the international community."
She added that the United States was determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"We are working with our partners in the United Nations on new Security Council sanctions that will show Iran's leaders that there are real consequences for their intransigence, that the only choice is to live up to their international obligations," Clinton said. "Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite."
She noted that it was taking time to produce these sanctions, but added that the US administration believed that time was a worthwhile investment for winning the broadest possible support for its efforts.
Meanwhile, European Union (EU) foreign ministers agreed on Monday to act to put an end to Iranian state censorship, saying the jamming of satellite broadcasts and Internet controls are "unacceptable."
Europe "calls on the Iranian authorities to stop the jamming of satellite broadcasting and Internet censorship and to put an end to this electronic interference immediately," the bloc's 27 foreign ministers said in an agreed text.
Iranian authorities have cracked down on the media and arrested scores of journalists since anti-government protests erupted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last June.