US President Barack Obama said on Friday his hopes for a direct dialogue with Iran
had been affected by what he described as the brutality of Tehran's "outrageous" crackdown on protesters
in the aftermath of its disputed election.
"There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks and we don't yet know how any potential dialogue will have been affected until we see what has happened inside of Iran," Obama told a joint White House news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
| Almost Final |
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| Iran electoral watchdog says no fraud in vote / Dudi Cohen, AFP |
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Guardians Council spokesman says 'after 10 days of examination, we did not see any major irregularities. We have had no fraud in any presidential election, and this was the cleanest one we have had'. Meanwhile, G8 nations 'deplore post-electoral violence which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians' |
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He added that the United States and Germany "speak with one voice" about the civil unrest that erupted in Iran.
Obama stated again his belief that the Islamic government in Tehran must "respect the rights and heed the will of its people." Speaking of the violence there, the president declared, "We see and we condemn it."
Obama and Merkel were expected at Friday's talks to hold to their differing views on the Afghanistan war and economic policy in the midst of worldwide financial problems.
Obama also repeated his call for Iran to give up its nuclear weapon ambitions,
saying it cannot be allowed to have this capacity because to do so would be "unleashing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
"There are going to be discussions that continue on the international stage around Iran's nuclear program. I think the direct dialogue between the United States and Iran and how that proceeds, I think we're going to have to see how that plays itself out in the days and weeks ahead," he said.
"Iran's possession of nuclear weapons will trigger an arms race in the Middle East that would be bad ... for the security of the entire region," Obama said.
"So even as we clearly speak out in a unified voice in opposition to the violence that's taken place in Iran, we also have to be steady in recognizing that the prospect of Iran with a nuclear weapon is a big problem."
Obama rejected a demand for an apology from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
who said Obama was interfering in the Iranian election.
"I don't take Mr. Ahmadinejad's statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran," he said.
The US leader praised Iranian protesters, saying: "Their bravery in the face of brutality is a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice. The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous."
He said Ahmadinejad's chief rival, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, had "captured the imagination" of Iranians who want to open up to the West.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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