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US President Barack Obama - in election mode
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Obama: Iran sanctions 'have a lot of bite'

In interview with ABC News US President reiterates Iran stance, says while he prefers diplomacy, no options off table. Asked how much he wants second term in office Obama says: 'badly'

WASHINGTON – Just days after his State of the Union address US President Barack Obama is trying to make sure his message on Iran was clear.

 

In an interview to ABC News he made it clear that "We've imposed the toughest sanctions ever. They had a lot of bite. The Iranian regime is feeling them. And, ultimately, I hope that we can resolve this through diplomatic means," yet he reiterated "we're not taking any options off the table."

 

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Obama refused to discuss whether the United States believes that Israel is preparing a military strike, saying: "I can't discuss classified military information, certainly not information that's shared between countries."

 

Yet the focus of the interview was less on Iran and more on the more personal side of his term in office. Obama said "I second-guess constantly… I make a mistake, you know, every hour, every day… no doubt that I’m a better president now than the day I took office just because you get more experience. "

 

With the presidential elections on the horizon and the Republican primaries making headline news, Obama didn't forget to stress that he now had more experience and was ready for a second term.

 

'Fight as hard as I can'

Responding to the question "How much do you want it (the second term)?" Obama responded "Badly," and added "because I think the country needs it."

 

"Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a vision of the country that I don't think reflects who we are," Obama noted and said "I'm going to fight as hard as I can with every fiber of my being to make sure that we continue on a path that I think will restore the American dream."

 

"We've got a test of Mr. Romney or Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Santorum's theories. We tried it for 10 years. And it resulted in a huge crash that lost us the most jobs since the 1930s," Obama said referring to the leading Republican candidates. "And why we would want to adopt something that we just tried and did not work doesn't make sense," he added.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.27.12, 09:19
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