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MODERATOR: We don't know whether al-Qaida or some other people clearly in the background - but I want to go back to the question of Iran. There is a nuclear danger in the Middle East coming from this - and we cannot deny this. And the sanctions, the imposed sanctions on Iran, hasn't really worked because the consensus is that Iran could have enriched uranium in - within a few months. If they want to have a nuclear weapon, they could. So what are the options that the U.S. is examining?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think that the most recent analysis is that the sanctions have been working, they have made it much more difficult for Iran to pursue its nuclear ambition. Iran's had technological problems that have made it slow down its timetables. So we do see some problems within Iran.

But the real question is how do we convince Iran that pursuing nuclear weapons will not make it safer and stronger, but just the opposite? I would ask you - I mean, those of you from countries here in the region - if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, won't you believe that you have to have a nuclear weapon too? I mean, it will be an arms race that will be extremely dangerous. So it's first and foremost in the interest of the region to persuade Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons.

Now, I have said, and I will repeat on this program, Iran, as a signer of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, has both rights and obligations. One of its obligations is not to pursue nuclear weapons. One of its rights is to have access to peaceful nuclear energy. Iran is entitled to peaceful nuclear energy, but only under circumstances where it is absolutely clear that they do not use that to pursue nuclear weapons.

So there will be a meeting in Istanbul in about two weeks where the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union - we will all be meeting with Iran and continuing our discussion about what Iran is entitled to and what it is not, and to try to find a way forward. But the sanctions are working. Their program, from our best estimate, has been slowed down. So we have time, but not a lot of time.

MODERATOR: I'd like to answer you to your question. As much as we don't want Iran to have a nuclear program, it's the same one that we don't want Israelis to have its nuclear program as well. So it's a bad --

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we do - we would like to see a nuclear-free Middle East. We would like to see that and we are committed to that. And in order to get there, we have to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, we have to resolve Iran's nuclear ambitions, and I would hope part of President Obama's goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, that we could make progress toward that.

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SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I certainly don't believe that. I think that our partnership with countries in the Middle East is even stronger than it has been. The work that we are doing with many of the countries is at a new level of involvement. And we have some very common aims. We are working together against terrorism, which has strengthened our relationship, because unfortunately, we face some common enemies. We are working together on areas like renewable energy and other important issues of the future.

We're working together on education. The depth of involvement of the United States in education - to take the UAE, for example, with the NYU campus, the American University campus - you look at all the fellowships and other kinds of exchanges that we're doing, it's at a new level of intensity. We're working together on women's issues and their impact. And we are certainly in common cause to try to convince Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons. In fact, we are very encouraged by the efforts that have been made by the countries in the region to enforce the sanctions, to send a unified message to Iran that they will become more isolated, and there's an easy out, which is not to pursue nuclear weapons and to not promote insurgencies and terrorism against their neighbors and against other countries. So I think that it is a - it's a quality of involvement and partnership that is critically important to all of our countries.

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