Americas

Americas

Clinton says U.S. to use all force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms

17 July 2012 01:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the warning Monday that the U.S. government will employ all its force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Clinton said Iran is under unprecedented pressure due to the efforts of the international community.

Iranian leaders still have an opportunity to resolve the nuclear crisis diplomatically, she said, adding that the United States will "use all elements of American power" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make the right decision. The choice is ultimately Iran’s," Clinton said.

Iran’s controversial nuclear program was one of the main topics during Clinton’s meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, including President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The United States, Israel and some other Western nations have long suspected that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, but Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

"We have our common effort to make sure that Iran will not achieve its ambition of developing nuclear weapons," said Netanyahu in public remarks prior to his meeting with Clinton.

Observers here believe one of the aims for Clinton’s visit is to repeat U.S. persuasion to the Israeli government against launching a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Israel has threatened to launch a military operation on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the multilateral talks on Iran’s nuclear issue fail, while Washington hopes to use sanctions to bring Tehran to heel.