Iran urges Obama to change approach
E-Mail Article
Printer-Friendly
3-Column Format
Translate
Share Article
Text Size
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday that it would not abandon its nuclear program and urged President-elect Barack Obama to change America's "carrot-and-stick policy" toward Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Hassan Ghashghavi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that Iran, which has repeatedly refused to suspend its enrichment of uranium, would not change its nuclear policy. He added that Iran expected Obama to stick to his campaign promise to change the previous administration's policy.
The comments came a day after the television broadcast of an interview in which Obama he said he would continue offering incentives to encourage Iran to cease enriching uranium but would seek to tighten economic sanctions on the country if it did not.
Enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power plants; Iran maintains that energy production is the goal of its nuclear program. But more intensely enriched uranium can fuel a nuclear bomb; the West fears Iran is surreptitiously working toward such a weapon.
"What Mr. Obama said is the same old carrot-and-stick approach," Ghashghavi said, speaking at a regular weekly news conference. "He must be able to change this policy based on his slogan of 'change.' " Ghashghavi said that the carrot-and-stick approach was "a failed policy" and that Iran expected Obama to change the "confrontational policy to one based on interaction."
Today in Africa & Middle East
"They have to recognize our legal rights, and we are willing to engage in an interaction to resolve their concerns," he said. "We need to engage in progress and development."
In the interview broadcast Sunday, on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," Obama said: "In terms of carrots, we can provide the economic incentives that would be helpful to a country that despite being a net oil producer is under enormous strain, huge inflation, a lot of employment problems."
Referring to the possibility of tightening economic sanctions, he said, "But we also have to focus on the sticks."
Latest News
