The US believes Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are driving the country towards military dictatorship and should be targeted in any new UN sanctions, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.
Speaking in Qatar before flying to Riyadh, Clinton denied the US planned to attack Iran and said Washington wanted dialogue with Tehran but could not “stand idly by” while Iran pursued a suspected nuclear weapons program.
Clinton said Washington hoped to pressure Iran through a UN Security Council resolution targeting the Revolutionary Guards, who she accused of usurping the government.
“We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament, is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship,” she told students in a televised session. “That is our view.”
Clinton later told reporters in Riyadh she hoped Iran’s religious and political leaders would “take back the authority which they should be exercising on behalf of the people.”
The US is leading a push for the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said it was unclear if sanctions would work and suggested that Iran’s Gulf neighbors hoped for a quick UN resolution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday to back “sanctions with teeth” targeting Iran’s energy sector.
Clinton’s remarks were the most open assessment by a senior US official about what Washington sees as the growing influence of the Revolutionary Guards, whose influence has grown in recent years through a network of banks, shipping firms and other companies under their control.
The force, set up after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the ruling system against internal and external threats, has 125,000 fighters with army, navy and air units. It operates separately from the 350,000-strong army and answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority.
The Guards are involved in construction and have expanded to cover areas such as import-export, oil and gas, defense and transport.
Clinton has acknowledged that US President Barack Obama’s approach to Iran had not borne fruit, blaming Tehran for refusing to engage and suggesting that a fourth Security Council sanctions resolution was the only option.
While saying Washington was still open to engagement with Iran, Clinton said she wanted the world to send “an unequivocal message to Iran that we will not stand idly by while you pursue a nuclear program that can be used to threaten your neighbors and even beyond.”
In Washington, a National Security Council spokesman called on Iran to accept a deal from October to send uranium abroad for enrichment, a position echoed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
TEHRAN RESPONDS
Iran hit back at the US yesterday over Clinton’s comments, accusing it of pursuing wrong policies in the Middle East.
“They themselves are involved in a sort of military dictatorship and have practically ignored the realities and the truths in the region,” ISNA news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying.
“America has a wrong attitude towards the issues in the Middle East and it is the continuation of their past wrong policies,” he said.
“We are sorry for Mrs Clinton ... for trying to divert public opinion in the region towards unreal and untruthful matters,” Mottaki said.
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