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QUESTION: I'm sorry. Talking is not a policy. Is not talking a policy then?
MR. MCCORMACK: No. No, we do have -- if you look very clearly at Iran and Syria, our policies are quite clear. If you want to go down the list on [Iran], whether it's on the nuclear issue or the human rights issue or the terrorism issue, it's very clear where we stand. We have an offer on the table to talk to the Iranians. They can realize a different sort of relationship with -- potentially with the United States and with the rest of the world. Instead of going down the pathway of isolation, you go down the pathway of greater engagement. But that's not what they have chosen.
You know, I just read press reports today about the fact that President Ahmadi-Nejad was talking about increasing the number of centrifuges in their nuclear program. Well, that should be a cold jolt to the rest of the world when you start hearing -- a cold jolt, sorry, I didn't speak very clearly, enunciate. That should be a cold jolt to the rest of the world. When they -- when you have the president of Iran talking about the fact that their program is to go to industrial scale, thousands and thousands of centrifuges, that is not something the rest of the world wants to see. Because what that leads to is an Iranian nuclear weapon, which would be an incredibly destabilizing event in the course of the Middle East history.
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QUESTION: There's a new IAEA report out today in which they're saying that Iran is pushing ahead with its enrichment of uranium and is running a UF6. I just wondered whether you had any comment on this new report.
MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't seen the report. I know that there's been a lot of news reporting about the fact that the Iranians are proceeding ahead with new cascades, with introducing UF6 into those cascades. You know, I'll let the IAEA talk about their own reports. It's not for me to talk about them. But just -- I would again point you back to the statements of the Iranian President in which he said this is our intention: Our intention is to install tens of thousands of centrifuges to get industrial-scale production to produce highly enriched uranium. Now they say the production of uranium is for their peaceful nuclear program. Well, excuse us if we base it on past Iranium behavior, we don't buy that. And the fact is it's not just the United States that doesn't buy that, it's the IAEA Board of Governors as well as the UN Security Council that doesn't buy that. And it's a source of grave concern.
QUESTION: Have you spoken to the Russians and the Chinese about this? And do you think that --
MR. MCCORMACK: About this report?
QUESTION: About this report, yeah.
MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not aware of any particular conversations. We have ongoing conversations on the fact of the resolution that we're working on. Up in New York John Bolton I know had some meetings yesterday. Nick Burns today had a phone call with the P-5+1, his counterparts among the political directors. I would expect that it's a topic of conversation when the Secretary travels to APEC. She's going to have meetings with her Chinese counterpart, her Russian counterpart as well as others. And I expect the President will probably have -- this will be part of his discussions as well with his leader counterparts.
QUESTION: So do you think that this report will give you, for want of a better word, ammunition to push forward with a resolution for strict sanctions?
MR. MCCORMACK: I think all it does is underline -- underscore the fact that we need a resolution in order to send a strong message to the Iranians they need to change their behavior. They haven't changed it yet, despite the fact that they have gotten a message from the Security Council that they must change their behavior. Now they're -- we believe and others believe that there must be costs to that failure to abide by the demands of the international community. It is a member of the United Nations and the resolution that was passed, 1696, was binding upon them. They have flouted that demand for compliance with the resolution and the terms of the resolution and there should be a cost to that. Now this is starting to become also a question of the credibility of the Security Council of whether or not it can follow through in enforcing its own resolutions.
We want -- we're trying very hard, doing everything we can, to have the Security Council function as it was envisioned to function, and we believe it's important that we do so. We have an agreement among the P-5, the P-5+1, that the next step in this process would be a Security Council resolution with sanctions in it. That's what we're working towards. We believe, despite all these ups and downs, that we will ultimately get a resolution.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Ambassador Jeffrey said yesterday on his news conference that you are working on the resolution on Chapter 7. My question is, are you working on Chapter 7 -- the resolution -- you want to have a resolution on Chapter 7 or without Chapter 7, just a resolution?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it would be Chapter -- Article 41 of Chapter 7, which deals specifically with economic-related issues.
QUESTION: But in Chapter 7, Article 41, it's mentioned also if the whole thing doesn't work the using of force is --
MR. MCCORMACK: We have said that that is -- we are seeking to resolve this through diplomatic means, although the President never takes any option off the table. Very clearly we are trying to get --
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. MCCORMACK: -- diplomacy to work.
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