Clinton urges action from Turkey, Brazil on Iran

Bloomberg: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her counterparts from Turkey and Brazil that it is time to apply sanctions pressure on Iran at the United Nations over its nuclear program. By Viola Gienger

April 13 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her counterparts from Turkey and Brazil that it is time to apply sanctions pressure on Iran at the United Nations over its nuclear program.

“We feel very strongly that it is time to act,” Clinton’s spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, told reporters today at President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit in Washington. Brazil and Turkey hold rotating seats on the UN Security Council, which is in discussions about a new sanctions resolution aimed at Iran.

Clinton raised the Iran dispute in a joint meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who are both in Washington for the summit. Both Turkey and Brazil have expressed skepticism about further punitive steps against Iran, which are intended to push the Iranian government into talks about the scope of its nuclear ambitions and the extent of its possible work on a weapon.

“We think at this point the credibility of the international community is at stake,” Crowley said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today that there is a “sense now that time is running out” on the Iran dispute and said he viewed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s planned trip to Iran next month as a “last-chance” effort.

“I’m not criticizing President Lula, but we’ve agreed with President Lula that this is the last chance, last-resort and last-chance initiative, and it has to happen very swiftly,” Sarkozy told reporters. “It has to fit in with the timetable I presented to Iran, in other words, April or May.”

The French president said he thinks a UN Security Council resolution imposing penalties on Iran should go through by June.

Sarkozy said he came away encouraged after his meeting with Lula and an informal gathering yesterday of countries discussing a draft sanctions resolution.