Thaindian News

Washington, Aug 14 (IANS) The White House Monday reiterated that there was still “time and space” for diplomacy in dealing with Iran’s nuclear standoff.

Washington, however, vowed to continue the two-track approach of diplomacy and pressure, Xinhua reported.

“We regret that Iran has not yet made a strategic decision to address the international community’s serious concerns regarding its nuclear programme and the ongoing P5-plus-1 talks,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a press briefing.

“However, we continue to believe that there is time and space for diplomacy,” he said.

Carney’s remarks came at a time when Israeli media reported that the decision by the Jewish state to attack Iran’s nuclear sites was looming.

Carney stressed that “opportunity remains” for a peaceful resolution of the stalemate if Iran takes necessary steps to comply with its international obligations.

The West has long been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, while Tehran has always rejected such claims.

The P5+1 — namely world powers including the US, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany — have held numerous rounds of negotiations with Iran to solve the logjam, but so far no substantial results have been achieved.

Carney also vowed to continue to increase the “scale and scope” of sanctions on Iran in a bid to force the country to “change course”.

“Continued diplomatic efforts are not inconsistent with expanded pressure. That is the essence of the two-track approach that we’ve taken, which is to step up, week by week, the pressure on Iran, the isolation on Iran, through sanctions and other means,” he said.