Iran going down a dangerous path: Clinton

Washington: Claiming that Iran with its provocative behaviour is going down a “dangerous path”, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the door of engagement with the Tehran is still open, even after being ineffective so far. “Our view is the path that Iran seems to be going down is a dangerous one for themselves and for the region, and the danger is compounded, on top of their provocation, their deliberate support for terrorism in many places, by their continuing pursuit of a nuclear weapon. So it’s something that the world has to respond to, and I think we’ve been quite effective in doing so,” Clinton told reporters during a joint news conference with her British counterpart William Hague. Clinton said that the US believes strongly in a diplomatic approach and seeks the engagement of the mid-east country. [caption id=“attachment_154631” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Clinton said that the US believes strongly in a diplomatic approach and seeks the engagement of the mid-east country. Reuters”]  [/caption] “And as you know, we have attempted to bring about that engagement over the course of the last three-plus years. It has not proven effective, but we’re not giving up on it,” she said. “With respect to any actions on further sanctions, we have been very tough. And not only did we work hard to get international sanctions through the United Nations, but we, along with close partners like the UK, like the EU and others, have applied additional sanctions, and we will continue to do so,” Clinton said in reply to a question. Supporting the US leader, Hague said Britain too is not giving up its engagement with Iran. “But on a number of occasions, Iran has behaved in a way in recent weeks and months which have intensified confrontation with the rest of the world,” he said referring to the plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in the US and the attack on the British Embassy in Tehran. “We’ve seen an increasing predilection for dangerous and illegal adventures on the part of at least part of the Iranian regime,” Hague said. The British leader said that the activities may not be the work of a united Iranian regime, but from at least part of the Iranian regime such actions have been sanctioned. “So we will increase the peaceful, legitimate pressure on Iran. We see that not as confrontation, but as a necessary response to the – in particular, to the nuclear programme,” he said. “We adopted in the European Union 10 days ago sanctions on an additional 180 individuals and entities,” Hague said. He added along with the expansion of the sanctions, more tougher ones could be imposed on the financial, energy and the transport sectors of the country. PTI