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Statement by assistant secretary philip j. crowley on iran's response to the iaea report

U.S. Department of State

September 16, 2010

Excerpts

 

. . .

QUESTION: Iran’s foreign minister yesterday said Iran’s atomic case in IAEA is the most clear and straightforward cases amongst the others, also said that the U.S. and allies and the IAEA concern over its atomic activities is baseless and seeking credibility. And also Ahmadinejad said that sanctions have got no effects on his country whatsoever. Do you see anything positive coming next week if Iran delegation gets the visa to come to U.S.?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I can’t predict whether anything positive will come out of next week. It depends on the approach that President Ahmadinejad takes when he arrives at the UN next week. I believe it was just over a year ago where President Obama, in a discussion with President Medvedev, revealed the existence of the secret facility in Qom, which proved that, in fact, our concerns are factually based.

So for Iran to dismiss that the claims are false – in truth, we have significant evidence that Iran is doing things that go beyond any plausible civilian nuclear program. It’s one of the reasons why we have steadfastly offered to engage Iran directly so that, to the extent that we have questions and to the extent that Iran has answers, we can resolve these issues. It is Iran that has failed to come forward and cooperate fully with the IAEA or answer the questions that the international community has about the true nature of its nuclear program. As Secretary Clinton said in one interview today, “This should not be hard.”

On the issue of sanctions, we believe they are having an effect. I believe the Secretary today mentioned that Mr. Rafsanjani, among others, have indicated publicly that we should – that they should – Iran should take sanctions seriously. The fact is that they are having an impact. Iran is one of the most, if not the most, sanctioned country on earth. It is isolated from the international community. It has very few friends around the world.

If Iran wants to have a different relationship with the international community, including the United States, answering the questions that the international community has about its nuclear program would be a very important step.

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