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US expects Iran response by year's end

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-19 09:34

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Monday he believes he will know by the end of the year whether his diplomatic opening to Iran on curbing its nuclear weapons program will work.

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Speaking to reporters after more than two hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama said the United States wants to bring Iran into the world community. But, he said, "We're not going to have talks forever."

Israel is deeply concerned about Iran's perceived attempts to build a nuclear weapon, assuming that Iran's anti-Israeli government might target the Jewish state, which lies within easy range of Tehran's missile technology.

Beyond that, the Iranians have sponsored anti-Israeli Islamic militants that refuse, as does Tehran, to accept Israel's existence. Most dangerously, the Iranian-funded and -armed Hamas organization currently runs the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah, the other Iranian proxy, historically has harassed Israel with rocket attacks from Lebanon to the north.

The Bush administration had bludgeoned Iran diplomatically about its perceived nuclear weapons ambitions but refused to engage the Islamic government in Tehran. Obama, worried that a nuclear-armed Iran could spark an arms race in the Middle East and deepen the threat to Israel's security, has changed course and is seeking to engage the Iranians in direct talks.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 18, 2009. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Obama said the United States wants to bring Iran into the world community. [Agencies]

So far there has been no positive Iranian response. Obama said he assumed the country's leaders were distracted by the presidential election campaign currently under way, but he said he thought he would be able to gauge Iranian seriousness in the coming months. He also declared readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against the Islamic Republic should it shun US attempts to open negotiations about its nuclear program.

"The important thing is to make sure there is a clear timetable, at which point we say these talks don't seem to be making any clear progress," Obama said. "If that hasn't taken place, I think the international community will see that it's ... Iran itself that is isolating themselves."

Obama told Netanyahu that progress in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would help rein in the Iranian nuclear threat.

"To the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians, between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with a potential Iranian threat," Obama said.