No options against Iran off the table: Obama

After approving one of the toughest sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme,Obama has warned the Islamic republic.

After approving one of the toughest sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme,US President Barack Obama has warned the Islamic republic that he has not taken options off the table.

“I assure you that I have not taken options off the table,” Obama said in an interview to Israeli television given on Wednesday.

“What I’ve said consistently is,is that it is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon,that we’re going to do everything we can to prevent that from happening. What I’ve also tried to do is build an international consensus so that Iran can’t somehow play a victim,can’t suggest somehow that they’re being singled out by the West,” he said.

Iran is the only country that has not been able to convince the International Atomic Energy Agency that they are pursuing nuclear power for peaceful means.

“It’s not hard to do,but they haven’t been able to do it because all indicators are that they are in fact pursuing a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“So we just pursued the toughest sanctions that have ever been applied against the Iranian government. We followed those up with US sanctions that are going to be tough. Allies and partners are following up with those sanctions. We want to continually ratchet up the costs of them pursuing this nuclear program,” he said.

“Now,will that work? We don’t know. And we are going to continue to keep the door open for a diplomatic resolution of this challenge. But I assure you that I have not taken options off the table,” Obama said in response to a question.

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Stating that his campaign had became a repository for a lot of hopes and a lot of dreams,Obama acknowledged that governance is different from campaigning.

“It’s hard. It’s complicated. It involves making choices,some of them not very attractive choices,and that at any given stage there are going to be some people who are

disappointed,” he said.

“But what keeps me hopeful is not any oversized view of my own capabilities; what keeps me hopeful is that the more I meet people here in this country,the more I meet people abroad,the more convinced I am that there’s a common humanity,a common set of aspirations that people have for their children,” he said.

“I think there’s a core decency to people that sometimes history,institutions,lack of opportunity prevent from being realized,and that the general trajectory of history is in a positive direction,” he said.