Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday he does not know if the economic sanctions applied against Iran will succeed during a town hall meeting with troops on his last day of his weeklong middle east trip.
Hagel did say, however, that he believes the sanctions have been effective.
The defense secretary made the remarks after being asked, "if (he) could talk a little bit about the economic sanctions against Iran and what (his) assessment of their effectiveness is."
HAGEL: I don’t know if all of these efforts that we’re applying in dealing with Iran—one being the international economic sanctions—will in fact change their attitude about what we think is their objective, moving toward a nuclear weapon, the possibility of delivering that weapon. I don’t know if what we’re doing will shift their thoughts or their approach. But we have the time. We have the assets. We have the international community. We are working toward that end. So, I think those sanctions have been effective. I think they’ll continue to be effective. We can continue to do more.
The Obama administration has often touted having put in place "the toughest sanctions ever imposed on the Iranian government" to deter nuclear ambitions, including during the 2012 presidential elections.
The Washington Post reported last month that U.S. and European officials have acknowledged the sanctions are not producing enough public unrest to shift the regime's nuclear intentions.