The U.S. is "not setting deadlines" for Iran and still considers negotiations as "by far the best approach" to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.While Clinton said in an interview yesterday that economic sanctions are building pressure on Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the sanctions aren't slowing Iran's nuclear advances "because it doesn't see a clear red line from the international community."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "We're not setting deadlines."Asked if the Obama administration will lay out sharper "red lines" for Iran or state explicitly the consequences of failing to negotiate a deal with world powers by a certain date, Clinton said, "We're not setting deadlines."
"We're watching very carefully about what they do, because it's always been more about their actions than their words," Clinton said in the interview with Bloomberg Radio after meetings at an Asia-Pacific forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak have indicated that as Iran proceeds with its nuclear work and negotiations stall, Israel may have no choice but to launch a preemptive strike in self-defense. Iran's leaders have denied Israel's right to exist.
While the U.S. and Israel share the goal that Iran not acquire a nuclear weapon, Clinton said there is a difference in perspective over the time horizon for talks.
"They're more anxious about a quick response because they feel that they're right in the bull's-eye, so to speak," Clinton said. "But we're convinced that we have more time to focus on these sanctions, to do everything we can to bring Iran to a good-faith negotiation."
Clinton has said that Iran, which depends on oil for more than half of its government revenue, is losing billions of dollars from lost oil sales due to sanctions.
Iranian oil exports dropped 66 percent in July from a year earlier, to less than 1 million barrels a day, as the U.S. and the European Union tightened sanctions, according to a report by Rhodium Group, citing customs data. Rhodium estimates exports at about 940,000 barrels a day, compared with 1.7 million barrels a day in June and 2.8 million in July 2011, the New York-based economic research group said Sept. 5 in an e-mailed report.
The U.S., European allies and Israel accuse Iran of seeking an atomic bomb capability. In its report last month, the IAEA said it "is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities." The IAEA said it hadn't detected any material being diverted from Iran's 16 declared nuclear facilities.