The US has said it is building international pressure on Iran as it has not received any response from Tehran against Washington’s offer of holding dialogues with it over nuclear issues.
“The (US) President had made clear at the beginning of our administration that we were prepared to enter into a dialogue with Iran, (but) we did not get a response from them (Iranians) for a number of reasons,” National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said in New York yesterday.
“We said at the outset to our partners that we would be willing to engage and offered to the Iranians to sit down and have a serious conversation, with the goal of settling the nuclear file.”
The US expected Iran to respond to its “bona-fide” offer in a similar manner, Donilon said, adding this was made clear by Washington to its partners including Russia and China.
With no response from Iran, the US, he said will pursue the pressure track and undertake efforts to try change and shape the Iranian choice to come back to a discussion.
Donilon said for past over three years, the US, along with its partners, has increased pressure on Iran so that a diplomatic solution can be achieved.
Noting that there is still the hope of finding a diplomatic solution, Donilon said the US will also continue to pursue the pressure track as at the end of the day, its policy remains to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“We still believe there’s time and space to have a diplomatic solution to this problem, and we will hope to do so.
“We do have the technical-level conversations coming up next week, and then a second round in Almaty following that, where we hope to continue the discussions in a constructive manner with the Iranians,” he said, terming as “constructive” the recently held dialogues between Iran and the P5 plus 1 nations in Almaty.
He said Tehran was found by the international community to be “pursuing projects which violate” UN norms and we haven’t had full disclose to the IAEA as the principal international organisation overseeing these matters.”
Donilon said the Iranians have indicated they will not acquire a nuclear weapon, he added.
“Well, it seems to me, like every other member of the NPT, that the Iranians could set about showing that to the international community, proving that to the international community and getting a circumstance where there can be some semblance of confidence that the Iranians are not pursuing a military nuclear program,” Donilon said.