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Ahmadinejad Says Clinton Not Taken Seriously In Iran

17 February 2010 00:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iran on Tuesday dismissed remarks by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who claimed the country was drifting toward a military dictatorship before the world’s eyes, APA reports citing â€œPress TV.â€

"That is how we see it," Mrs. Clinton said in a televised meeting of students at a university in Doha, Qatar. "We see that the government of Iran â€” the supreme leader, the president, the parliament â€” is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship."

The accusation was the latest sign that the administration of President Barack Obama has deserted yet another promise; to offer a fresh start in diplomatic engagement with Iran, after nearly three decades of animosity.

As the sharpening war of words escalates between Iran and the United States, President Obama’s top military adviser, Admiral Mike Mullen, said in Amman that as Iran becomes "a nuclear weapons-capable country," the White House continues to proceed with its Iran policy of dialogue or military action to pressure the country into abandoning its nuclear work, according to the French news agency.

"The priority for President Obama and his administration has been to initiate a dialogue and engagement (with Iran) while at the same time keeping all options on the table," said Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "When I say all options are on the table it certainly includes potential military options."

Iran says its nuclear program â€” the controversial issue which the country says is being blown out of proportion in the West’s political games â€” is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology. However, the Untied States, backed by a number of its European allies as well as Israel and its powerful lobby groups in Washington, charges that Iran is conducting covert operations in its nuclear pursuit in the hopes of building an atom bomb.

The allegation, which is contrary to the findings of the US intelligence community in 2007, is yet to be verified by the UN nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has been monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities extensively in the past few years.

Nonetheless, Adm. Mullen’s threat of military action raises fears that President Obama has turned to the miserably unsuccessful policies of the Bush administration on Iran. Currently, he may seem to be heading toward success in slamming new United Nations Security Council sanctions resolutions against Iran, but in the long run he is taking the enmity to a new height.

Inevitably, he is making it far more difficult for his successors who may actually be willing to honor the pledge to engage Iran.