NCRI – A senior US diplomat has said that the Iranian regime can either gain concessions or pay a heavy price as the time approaches for serious negotiations and respect for the Iranian people, VOA Farsi service reported on Thursday.
Dennis Ross, Special Assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama, spoke on Wednesday at a joint session of US Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson Center. He was quoted as saying that the Iranian regime has for a long time believed that it could escape making a choice by following its current path, but the US objective for diplomacy has been to change the realities on Iran.
He said, “We also sought to be very clear: If Iran stays with the path of defying its international obligations, it will pay a price.”
“Iran to date has not been willing to choose a path of greater possibility
and responsiveness to the international community. It has yet to embrace a position favoring transparency and peace. On the contrary, we see behaviors that signal the opposite.”
Mr. Ross also said, “The Iranian government’s continued repression and intimidation of its own people following the presidential election last year demonstrated the lack of respect it shows even to its own citizens.”
David Albright, a physicist and head of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), also spoke at the event.
He was quoted by VOA as saying that Iran continues uranium enrichment to produce carbon fibre, which can lead to cheaper centrifuges compared to the P2 generation.
Albright also said that, contrary to the US government’s 12-month assessment, ISIS experts believe that the Iranian regime can obtain a nuclear weapon in six months.
