US looking into range of possibilities against Iran

Washington: The US on Thursday said it is looking into a range of possibilities against Iran as it asked Tehran to engage with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a credible and transparent manner to address the concerns over its nuclear programme.

The IAEA report on Iran, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, demonstrates what the US has known and made clear for years, which is that Iran did have a nuclear weapons programme and has yet to provide any assurance that it has not abandoned its intent to develop nuclear weapons.

"So these are very serious allegations, serious charges, and it's incumbent on Iran to at last engage with the IAEA in a credible and transparent manner to address these concerns," Toner told reporters at his daily news conference.

"I think going forward, we're consulting with our partners and allies within the IAEA. There's going to be a Board of Governors meeting at the end of next week, where this will be addressed. And we re going to look at a range of possibilities," Toner said.

The existing UN sanctions and Resolution 1929 puts in place some of the most stringent sanctions to date for Iran, and that they are having an economic impact on Iran, he said, adding these sanctions are squeezing the Iranians' economy.

"What we've been working towards is reinforcing those, working with countries around the world to make sure that those sanctions are upheld and implemented to the fullest extent possible. I think that as we move forward, we're going to consult and certainly look at ways to impose additional pressure on Iran," he said.

Responding to questions, Toner said there's a lot of ideas under discussion and under review.

"I think right now I just will say that we're looking at a range of options, with the overall intent of being ways that we can put additional pressure on Iran so, again, to make clear to the Iranian Government that it needs to come clean," he said.

"I don't want to say one's off the table, and one's still on the table. I think that limits our ability to make sure that we look at all possibilities and come up with additional pressure as appropriate," he said.

Meanwhile, a senior administration official said the United States is committed to doing what it can to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"That's precisely why we've taken a range of steps to increase the cost on the Iranian government for its activities outside of international law, again, to include diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions and other measures," said the official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"We believe there's additional space to continue to build out that pressure that we can continue to increase the cost to Iran for its behavior in terms of its isolation and in terms of the sanctions that are imposed upon it," the official said.

Giving a sense of plan of action of the Obama Administration, the official said the US would be focused on underscoring the need for Iran to answer the very serious questions raised by this report, consulting very closely with its allies and partners about its response to this report, and readying a range of steps that they can take to increase the pressure on Iran.

Another administration official said the US has been increasing the cost of doing business in Iran, which has led many companies to reassess their own interest in doing business in Iran.

"The net effect of the steps that we've taken to date has been the slowing of the Iranian economy to a halt for the first time in decades; the cancellation, again, of specific military contracts that were of interest to Iran; the targeting of certain Iranian individuals and entities," the official said.

"We believe there is ample room to continue to build out that pressure by targeting other elements of the Iranian government and its ability, again, to fund its activities. So we don't take anything off the table when we look at sanctions," the official said.

"We believe, again, that there's a broad spectrum of actions that we can take, whether they be financial or whether they be targeted against these individuals that we are considering, and we fully anticipate, again, ratcheting up our pressure," the official added.