By NNN-KUNA
Washington : The United States has said that the Iranian nuclear programme case is not closed yet, in a direct response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement in New York.
“Iran is under Security Council sanctions, is under several Chapter VII resolutions not asking it nicely or politely, but requiring it as a matter of international law, to halt its uranium enrichment programme and to engage in negotiations with the international community,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey in his daily press briefing Wednesday.
In a speech in the UN General Assembly Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said that the issue of his country’s nuclear programme is “closed” and he would disregard UN Security Council resolutions in that regard.
“It cannot be closed as long as Iran continues to defy UN Security Council resolutions,” added Casey.
He said that Ahamdinejad insists on missing opportunities to achieve a peaceful civilian nuclear programme through negotiations with the international community. “All President Ahmadinejad is doing is missing an opportunity yet again to help his people, to bring them closer to the international community and to begin a real dialogue with the United States,” referring to the “unprecedented offer” of Secretary to State Condoleezza Rice to meet with Iranian officials and discuss any topic once Tehran drops its nuclear programme.
Casey noted that even the European Union will establish separate sanctions on Iran, asserting that with additional sanctions, “reasonable actors” in Iran would hopefully convince Ahmadinejad that the “continued path of defiance is not in his interest or more importantly the interest of his people”.
“The Iranian government and the leaders of this regime have been and are paying an increasing price for their defiance of the international community,” Casey added.