US threatens Iran with ‘punitive’ measures

AFP
Wednesday, Aug 6, 2008

The United States and its allies want “punitive” measures against Iran over its weak reponse to the international offer to persuade it to freeze its nuclear program, the White House said Wednesday.

The threat came ahead of new talks between the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia on the latest Iranian letter to the powers.

The United States and its allies were to press for new UN Security Council sanctions, according to US media reports. But Russia and China could resist the move, diplomats said.

(Article continues below)

The council has already ordered three rounds of sanctions against Iran.

“In the absence to a positive response to the generous offer that we provided for our incentives package, we think that the allies will have no choice but to take further measures that would be punitive, given that we don’t have a decent and responsive statement from the Iranians,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

“I think that the Iranians have long stalled on responding to the allies, so I think the most important thing we can do is let the political directors have their conference call and decide on their next step,” Perino said, speaking on a jet taking President George W. Bush on an Asian tour.

Full article here

Print this page.

Comment Rules

Comments are closed.