WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that sanctions on Iran could be " remedied in short order" if the Islamic Republic works sincerely with the international community over its controversial nuclear program.
Acknowledging that sanctions have had an impact on Iran, as the country's currency has sank to a new low in its value over the past days, the top U.S. envoy stressed that "Those could be remedied in short order if the Iranian government were willing to work with the P-5+1 and the rest of the international community in a sincere manner."
"Our goal has been and remains to persuade the Iranian regime to negotiate seriously in good faith with the international community over its nuclear program, to fulfill its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency and to the United Nations, and to do so expeditiously," she told reporters after meeting with her Kazakh counterpart Yerlan Idrisov at the State Department.
She stated that putting pressure on Iran by applying sanctions is part of the dual-track approach adopted by Washington to force Iran to negotiate "a peaceful resolution" to the "many legitimate questions that surround their nuclear program and ambitions."
"I think the Iranian government deserves responsibility for what is going on inside Iran," she said.
The UN Security Council imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran between 2006 and 2010 over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which Western countries suspect could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
The United States and European Union have imposed and expanded sanctions of their own over the years despite Iran's insistence on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
Iran have held three rounds of talks with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, the so-called P5+1, over its uranium enrichment program since mid-April, but made no breakthrough.
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