Source:
Associated PressWASHINGTON – The Bush administration won't back down on pursuing new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program despite questions about their usefulness raised by government auditors, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press Washington's case for fresh U.N. sanctions next week in Europe even as the U.S. considers imposing more penalties of its own to step up pressure on Tehran to halt activities that could lead to the development of a nuclear weapon.
Announcing Rice's Jan. 22 meeting in Berlin with her foreign minister colleagues from the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, the State Department said Wednesday the United States had no plans to change its sanctions strategy in dealing with Iran even after Congress' investigative arm said the impact of the policy was unclear.
“The whole strategy here is to use various kinds of diplomatic pressure at a gradually increasing rate to try to get a different set of decisions out of the Iranian leadership,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
The administration has unsuccessfully lobbied for the Security Council to pass a third Iran sanctions resolution for nearly a year but has faced stiff resistance from Russia and China, which have been unwilling to agree to either the language or timing of such a move.
McCormack refused to speculate as to whether Tuesday's gathering of the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. would produce a new resolution.
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Russia and China are going to 'laugh at you'...Condi!