. . .
Q Can you give us an update on the incentives for Iran? Has the President decided that it's time to --
MR. McCLELLAN: Incentives for Iran? Well, first of all, it's the Europeans who are negotiating or talking with the Iranians. And I think you heard from the President yesterday, and you heard from Secretary Rice, as well, yesterday -- and me, in the briefing, too. What we are talking about is looking at how we can best support the efforts of the Europeans to accomplish our shared goal, and that is getting Iran to end its nuclear weapons ambitions, and to fully comply with its international obligations. That's what this is about. We have continued to discuss matters with our European friends. We want to make sure that we have a common strategy going forward to achieve our common purpose.
Q He's been mulling this over for some time. When is he going to make a decision?
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think it's for "some time." I mean, we're talking about just last week the President had very good discussions with the European leaders. And you saw a very clear unity of purpose coming out of those discussions. That was a strong statement; you heard the President reference it yesterday, how he welcomed the Europeans agreeing on the need to make sure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. And that's our common purpose. There was some good discussion about some of the ideas for moving the process forward. We want to see the European efforts succeed. We continue to think through some of the ideas that were discussed, and continue to have discussions with our European friends.
Q Is the time line part of the discussions there --
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think you've heard us talk about how Iran's non-compliance -- continued non-compliance is grounds for looking to the Security Council. We have continued to believe that their failure to comply with their international obligations should be referred to the Security Council. But there are diplomatic efforts ongoing that we support, and we want to see those diplomatic efforts succeed. But Iran, for 20 years, had a clandestine program that they hid from the international community. And it's time for Iran to come clean and fully comply with their international obligations.
And we appreciate the efforts of our European friends to get them to do that. And that's where our focus is right now, is on how we can support their efforts. So it's not about us providing incentives, as some people have suggested, or not providing incentives, it's about us supporting the efforts of the Europeans to succeed. But if they continue to fail to comply with their international obligation, then there has to be a discussion about the next step. And we have long believed that that next step is referral to the Security Council.
Q Is that something you're seeking assurances from the Europeans that they'll support before you give a nod to their efforts to offer --
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, we'll have -- I expect if there's more to talk -- more to say on the common strategy, we'll do so at that point. But right now, we continue to think through those ideas and look at how we can best support their efforts. And that's where our focus is.
. . .