U.N. Sanctions Against Iran
Washington - The United States wants the Middle East ultimately to be free of nuclear arms, and while the Obama administration remains open to engagement with Iran, it is working with others in the international community on economic sanctions to discourage the Iranian government from pursuing those weapons.
"We are still hoping that Iran will decide to forgo any nuclear ambitions for nuclear weapons, and begin to respect its own people more on a daily basis," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said February 15. "But we cannot just keep hoping for that. We have to work to take action to try to convince the Iranian government not to pursue nuclear weapons."
Clinton was speaking to students at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar at a "Townterview" moderated by Al Jazeera satellite television.
In her remarks, she mentioned the September 2009 revelation that Iran had a secret nuclear facility at Qom, the Iranian government's refusal of an international offer to enrich uranium for civilian use, and its recent decision to begin enriching uranium to 20 percent, a level Clinton described as "troubling."
"I wish that Iran would take a different approach," she said. "The United States under President Obama would really welcome a positive, normal relationship with Iran. But you can't do that unless there is something coming back to you. And there hasn't been."
The Obama administration is working with others in the international community to apply pressure on Iran through United Nations sanctions that "will be particularly aimed at those enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard," which she said is supplanting the Iranian government, including its supreme leader, president and parliament.
"Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," Clinton warned.
On February 10, the Obama administration targeted existing U.S. sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against one of its corporate entities, Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters ( http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2010/February/20100212125743esnamfuak0.6336481.html ), and its commander, Rostam Qasemi, who is also a general in the IRGC.
Clinton called upon the rest of the world to unite and send an "unequivocal message" that it "will not stand idly by" as Iran pursues a nuclear program that can threaten others in the region and beyond.
"Our goal, eventually, is to have a Middle East free of nuclear weapons," she said. President Obama has said he wants to eliminate nuclear weapons from all over the world. The United States is currently negotiating with Russia to reduce its own arsenal "because we are very committed to demonstrating ... the importance that we place on this goal," Clinton said.
She said leaders and influential people from the broader Middle East have expressed their concerns over a nuclear-armed Iran, and their need to respond if that scenario becomes a reality.
"That's not something that they want to spend their money on, that they want to be involved in. But, on the other hand, they don't want to live in a region where they feel threatened," she said.
The Obama administration's emphasis on nonproliferation is also manifest in its determination to prevent violent extremists such as al-Qaida from obtaining nuclear material to make a bomb.
"This is not the Cold War. In the Cold War the feeling was that you could deter each other," she said. "When you have people who are willing to kill themselves, and kill many others at the same time, that upsets the balance."
The secretary also discussed ongoing U.S. efforts to urge Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table to reach a peace agreement and establish an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps.
"No one can dictate to either the Israelis or the Palestinians what the outcome should be. They must make those decisions themselves. But the United States is very focused on being a facilitator and a help in every way possible to achieve that outcome," she said.
She described the situation in Gaza as "a humanitarian crisis." The Obama administration has contributed "many, many hundreds of millions of dollars" to assist Palestinians there, as well as to encourage more aid and materials to be allowed in.
"We have begun to deal with the immediate necessities of food and medical supplies. But we need housing for people to live in. We need hospitals rebuilt. We need schools that can function and provide an education. And we are continuing to push very hard for that to be realized," she said.
But she repeated calls for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and to "be part of the solution, going forward."
On Iraq, the secretary said she is pleased with the progress the country is making as U.S. combat troops are on schedule to withdraw from the country by August.
The people of Iraq have a democratically elected government and are exercising control over their natural resources. The United States hopes that Iraq will remain a democratic and pluralistic society "where every part of the country gets to participate, that there isn't any tilting of power for or against any group within Iraq," she said.
As part of their democratic future, "the Iraqi people will have the benefit of their oil revenues. Not one group, not any individual," she said, and they can choose to invest the revenues in education, health care, housing and other areas that will benefit the larger society.
"That is what we hope for them, and that is the direction that the Iraqi government seems to be headed," she said.
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