London, July 24: The United States doubts Iran can respond to its offer of engagement due to current turmoil after disputed elections, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.
But she warned that a “nuclear clock is ticking,” saying there was only a limited time for Tehran to respond to discuss concerns over its nuclear ambitions.
In an interview with the BBC, she said the Islamic Republic has not responded so far to Washington’s diplomatic overtures, which she reiterated after the July 12 presidential ballots.
“We’ve certainly reached out and made it clear that’s what we’d be willing to do, even now, despite our absolute condemnation of what they’ve done in the election and since,” said Clinton, visiting Thailand this week.
“But I don’t think they have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now,” she said. “The internal debates going on in Iran make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to pursue any diplomatic engagement.”
She warned, however, that there was not “an unlimited window of opportunity here — the nuclear clock is ticking, and we know we’ve got to press Iran to begin a serious discussion about its intentions concerning nuclear power”.
The US believes Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capacity under the guise of a drive for civilian nuclear power, although it denies this.
President Barack Obama has offered to engage with Tehran, in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush.
Clinton last week renewed a limited US offer to talk with Iran despite its crackdown following elections which returned hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office.
In a policy speech only days after the Iranian ballots, Clinton rejected critics who say engagement is a sign of weakness and warned Washington would not hesitate to use military force to defend itself or its allies.
–Agencies