Amid White House plans to address the issue of the Iranian nuclear program, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US will push for "even stricter" sanctions to be imposed on Tehran.
"We would ask the world to join us in imposing even stricter sanctions on Iran to try to change the behavior of the [Iranian] regime," Clinton said in an interview with the private television network Globovision which was broadcast late Tuesday.
She expressed the White House concern regarding what she termed as Iran's "pursuit of nuclear weapons", saying it could "be very destabilizing in the Middle East and beyond".
Iran says its activities are in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and are aimed at the civilian applications of the technology.
Israel, however, has long referred to Iran as an “existential” threat with a regime hell-bent on a nuclear war.
The US and its European allies, meanwhile, accuse the Tehran government of conducting clandestine efforts to obtain nuclear weaponry, warning of an imminent nuclear arms race in the volatile Middle East.
Clinton's remarks come as top officials in the White House and the US military continue to express conflicting stances on their approach toward Iran's nuclear program and about the potential for an Israeli attack on Iran.
After Vice President Joe Biden suggested that the US would countenance Israel attacking Iranian nuclear sites, President Barack Obama denied that the US had given Israel the green light for any such strike.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen also warned on Sunday that any military strike against Iran would have "unintended consequences" and would be "very destabilizing".
Pointing to the unrest in Iran following the June 12 disputed presidential election, Clinton said, "We have seen in the last weeks that Iran has not respected its own democracy."
"It has taken actions against his own citizens for peacefully protesting," she added.
Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after an official landslide re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
At least 20 people were killed and many others injured when some of the protests turned violent.
"I think it is not a very smart position to ally with a regime that is being rejected by so many of their own people," Clinton argued in the interview.
The Obama administration thinks "it is not in the best interest" of the world to be doing business with Iran that would "promote the regime... that is not smart", Clinton added.
The opposition in Iran, however, says the continuation of the stance adopted by former president George W. Bush toward the Islamic Republic would only strengthen the incumbent administration.
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