Washington, February 04: Iran faces the prospect of “severe sanctions” from the United States and other major powers over its suspect nuclear activities, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
President Barack Obama’s warning last week that Iran’s leaders would suffer “growing consequences” if they ignored international obligations meant tough sanctions were in the offing, Gates told the House Armed Services Committee.
“I think in the near term it’s more likely to be severe sanctions imposed partly by the UN Security Council and partly by the United States and like-minded countries,” Gates said when asked about Obama’s warning.
He did not specify what financial or other penalties might be imposed on Tehran.
The US Senate has called for imposing sanctions that would target its thirst for petrol imports, punishing non-Iranian firms that do business in Iran’s energy sector or help the country produce or import refined oil products.
The Obama administration has so far resisted the proposal.
Gates’s comments came as the administration reacted cautiously Wednesday to an apparent acceptance by Iran on a UN-brokered deal.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said late Tuesday that Iran was willing to send its uranium abroad in exchange for processed nuclear fuel.
Iran would have “no problem” sending out its stocks of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further purified into reactor fuel for use at a research facility, Ahmadinejad said in a television interview.
Iran needs nuclear fuel to power its UN-monitored reactor but some states claim its uranium enrichment program is masking efforts to produce atomic weapons — claims vehemently denied by Tehran.
Gates was also asked by lawmakers about US military contingency plans to “prevent” Iran from securing nuclear weapons.
The defense secretary offered to answer the question in a classified, behind-closed-doors hearing, but said: “We are looking at a full-range of options.”
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Wednesday he would ask the United Nations to adopt a new resolution against Iran over its nuclear programme, which would include “strong sanctions”.
“The Iranian regime has not taken our offers of dialogue … the time has therefore come to react,” he said.
“We will seek in the United Nations the adoption of a new resolution comprising strong sanctions and the European Union will also equally assume its responsibilites,” he added.
But the Iranian offer also received a cautious welcome.
“The deal is still on the table,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”If Iran wishes to accept it, we look forward to hearing about it from the IAEA, because that’s the appropriate venue for them to file an official response.”
Britain’s Foreign Office said: “If Iran is willing to take up the IAEA’s proposed offer, it would be a positive sign of their willingness to engage with the international community on nuclear issues.”
“Iran has to make concrete commitments to the IAEA and a concrete answer in Vienna is the only measure on which it can be assessed,” German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon raised on Wednesday the possibility of using military force against Iran.
“Iran’s plan will probably be stopped by a regime change or, if there is no other choice, by a recourse to force to deprive Iran of its nuclear arms production capabilities,” Yaalon told a security conference in Herzliya, northern Israel.
Yaalon also called on the international community to impose even harsher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
“It is important to make Iran understand that the leaders of the international community are determined to the point of putting this matter at the top of their list of priorities, even if they have to pay an economic or even military price.”
Yaalon’s reference to force was not new. Both the United States and Israel have consistently refused to rule out the use of force.
Israel, the only country in the Middle East that actually posses nuclear weapons, has already acted in similar circumstances against Iraq in 1981.
—Agencies