Obama shows Iran carrot, Clinton stick

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:28:34 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=97375&sectionid=351020104

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she will move to engage in direct diplomacy with Iran to see if the country's nuclear activities are aimed at peaceful purposes.
After the US president said he is ready for talks with Iran without pre-conditions, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the country of full "retaliation" should it launch a nuclear attack on Israel.

"I don't think there is any doubt in anyone's mind that were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation," Clinton said in an interview with ABC News aired on Sunday.

Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), does not possess any nuclear weaponry. Its controversial nuclear program has been in the headlines around the globe over the past few years.

The country says its program is directed at the civilian applications of the technology. The West, headed by the US and Israel, however, accuse it of developing an atomic bomb.

Israel has long strived to portray the Islamic Republic as a regime hell-bent on starting a nuclear war. Officials in Tel Aviv, therefore, continue to threaten Iran with military options to stop its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Secretary Clinton, whose country is on a possible collision course with Israel, referred to the possibility of a preemptive "first strike" on Iran's nuclear sites "the way that we did attack Iraq."

"They might have some other enemies that would do that to them," she said, AFP reported. "Part of what we have to make clear to the Iranians is that their pursuit of nuclear weapons will actually trigger greater insecurity."

"Both Israel and the Arab states are deeply concerned about Iran having nuclear weapons," she added.

Clinton's comments came shortly after US President Barack Obama in Cairo on Thursday admitted Washington's past mistakes toward Tehran, saying Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear technology.

"Any nation -- including Iran -- should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Obama said in a keynote Thursday speech at Cairo University.

President Obama, however, warned that the US would not allow a nuclear arms race to be started in the volatile Middle East.

In her interview, Clinton vowed to engage in direct diplomacy with Tehran to see if its nuclear activities pursue solely peaceful goals.

"So, we have to test that and we have to be willing to sit and listen and evaluate without giving up what we view as a primary objective of the engagement, which is to do everything we can to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state," she said.

Iran, for its part, demands that the US manifest a 'genuine' change in action rather than a change in tone before the two countries -- which have not had any diplomatic relations over nearly three decades -- can rebuild their relations.