US to keep pressuring Iran after IAEA report

The White House welcomed a resolution on Iran's nuclear program on Friday by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, and said it will increase pressure on Tehran to abandon its drive for an atomic bomb.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution expressing increasing concern about Iran's atomic work had exposed "the hollowness of Iran's claims" that its nuclear program was for purely civilian purposes.

"The whole world now knows that Iran not only sought to hide its uranium enrichment program from the world for more than two decades, but also engaged in covert research and development related to activities that can have only one application: building a nuclear warhead," he said.

The resolution won overwhelming support at the 35-nation IAEA meeting, but did not mention concrete punitive steps, reflecting Russian and Chinese opposition to cornering Iran.

Washington has orchestrated increasingly tough sanctions against Iran at the United Nations.

"The United States will continue this pressure until Iran chooses to depart from its current path of international isolation, both in concert with our partners as well as unilaterally," Carney said.

U.S. officials are reviewing sanctions against Iran's financial services sector and U.S. lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and Senate are considering proposals to sanction Iran's central bank.

Source: REUTERS