US: Ready to hit Iran with new sanctions

The Obama administration and its European allies are preparing to impose additional sanctions on Iran, White House coordinator for arms control Gary Samore told The New York Times on Friday.

Gary Samore told a Washington think tank that the United States and its partners will keep up pressure on Iran to come clean about its nuclear ambitions by maintaining and expanding existing sanctions that American officials believe are taking a toll on the Iranian economy.

"We and our allies are determined to maintain and even increase pressure," Samore told a conference on "Countering the Iranian Threat" hosted by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

"We need to send the message to Iran that sanctions will only increase if Iran avoids serious negotiations and will not be lifted until our concerns are fully addressed," he added.

His comments came three days after a last round of inconclusive talks among top officials from the United States, the European Union, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran.

The group agreed to meet again next year, but Iran's president has said his country will not bow to pressure, and the talks will fail unless sanctions are lifted.

Iran currently is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions and subject to additional penalties imposed separately by the United States, European countries and others. The most recent round of Security Council sanctions were adopted in June.

Samore said Iran could come out from under sanctions, but only by cooperating.

"Iran can gain much by fulfilling its international obligations or it can continue to pay an increasing price by continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said. "The choice is ultimately Iran's, but we must force Iran to make that choice."

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