The Associated Press
Speaking as the G-8 summit concluded in Italy, Obama stressed that he and others were not looking for their summit partners to embrace sanctions at this week's meeting. Instead, he said that "what we wanted was exactly what we got" — a statement of condemnation about Iran's actions in the wake of its disputed presidential election.
Obama said G-8 leaders voiced their concern about what he calls the "appalling" events surrounding the recent elections and the violence that followed. The leaders assembled at L'Aquila also addressed the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran, he said, with a "strong statement" calling on Iran to fulfill its responsibilities without delay.
"This notion that we were trying to get sanctions or that this was a forum where we could get sanctions was not accurate," the president said.
"I think the real story here was consensus in that (G-8) statement, including Russia, which doesn't make statements like that lightly," he said. "Now the other story there was the agreement that we will reevaluate Iran's posture towards negotiating the cessation of a nuclear weapons policy."
"We'll evaluate that at the G-20 meeting in September," Obama said. "I think that what that does is, it provides a time frame. The international community has said, 'Here'a door you can walk thorugh that allows you to lessen tensions and more fully join the international community.' "
"If Iran chooses not to walk through that door, then you have on record the G-8 to begin with and, I think, potentially a lot of other countries … ," he said. "We're not going to just wait indefinitely and allow for the development of a nuclear weapon … and wake up one day and find ourselves in a much worse situation and unable to act."
Obama said his hope is that the Iranian leadership "will recognize that world opinion is clear."
