Obama hints at new Iran sanctions as Tehran rejects uranium enrichment deals

19 November 2009

United States President Barack Obama has warned Iran of the consequences of its rejection of the proposed package on uranium enrichment. Obama said a new measures against Iran could be agreed within "within weeks". Obama said at a press conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul: "Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal... As a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences." He added that Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, likening the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. "We weren't going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue."

Iran's Foreign Minister Mottaki rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from "failed experiences" of the past. "Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented," he said. "It is not our proposal to have a swap. They [the Western nations] raised such a proposal and we described and talked about how it could be operational."

Mottaki rejected the deal on the table, brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, under which Iran would send 70 percent of its nuclear material to Russia for re-processing. He suggested Iran would agree to exchange all its uranium at once for an equivalent amount of enriched nuclear fuel, but only on its own territory.  As this proposal is fundamentally different to the IAEA package, it equals a rejection by Tehran of the offer.

WJC and the Iranian threat