Clinton sends warning signal to Iran

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that Washington will not afford a nuclear Tehran, saying it will do everything in its power to avert the prospect.

Clinton alleged on Sunday that Iran was making efforts to obtain nuclear weapons as a tool to impose its power on the region but warned that the US was determined to avert the prospect of a nuclear Iran.

“What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions (in Iran), that if you are pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we’re not going to let that happen,” Clinton said on NBC television’s Meet the Press.

The former first lady however said that the door will be still open for engagement with Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

“There’s a lot that we can do with Iran if Iran accepts what is the international consensus,” she said, namely that Tehran has ‘a right to pursue a peaceful use of civil nuclear power’ but not nuclear weapons.

Clinton had told the BBC on Thursday that both she and the US President Barack Obama believed that direct dialogue with Iran would guarantee success.

The West, spearheaded by the US and Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuses Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program under the guise of enrichment activities, an allegation dismissed by Tehran.

Iran argues that unlike Israel, it is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has willingly opened its atomic activities to the most stringent supervision of UN nuclear watchdog inspectors, according to the terms of the NPT.

The new US administration says it wants to diplomatically engage Iran, mend ties and resolve the country’s disputed nuclear program. Iran says it favors talks over its nuclear work, but has called for logical negotiations without any preconditions.