White House Press Secretary Jay Carney addressed sanctions against Iran Monday, saying the Obama administration was encouraged by the new Iranian leadership regarding its nuclear weapons program.
"I think right now we're exploring the possibility that Iran is serious about resolving this challenge, and we want to do that," he said.
MAJOR GARRETT: Benjamin Netanyahu said to the president that he would be in favor of stronger sanctions if the negotiations with Iran either drag on or prove less than fruitful. Does the president support that?
JAY CARNEY: Look, our position -- the president's position from the day he took office and made clear that he was willing to have bilateral conversations with Iran if Iran were serious about resolving this issue, is that absent progress on that issue, absent a willingness by Iran to deal with this nuclear weapons problem, that the international community ought to isolate Iran through sanctions and make clear through sanctions and other means that the violation of its international obligations was a serious matter.
And that is what we have done. And so another way of asking that which I can answer is, you know, the sanctions regime has brought us to this point. The international consensus that the sanctions regime that was made possible by the -- sorry -- the international consensus was made possible by the president's position. We were able to change the focus of the international community from a debate about whether the United States was part of the problem to a focus on the fact that Iran was the problem.
And through the last five years, we've seen the imposition and steady escalation of sanctions in a way that has had a dramatic impact on the Iranian economy. And I think we've seen reflections of that in the statements of members of the new government. We are encouraged by what we have heard from the new Iranian leadership. But as we've said all along, actions are what we are focused on.
And there were -- there was a P-5 plus one meeting in which Secretary Kerry and his Iranian counterpart participated. They had a separate pull-aside. And there is another P-5 plus one meeting coming up in about 16 days. So that is the vehicle through which we will be able to measure concrete progress and, you know, test the theory here that Iran is serious, as Iran has said it is, about resolving this issue in a way that meets its international commitments.
GARRETT: And if it's not stronger sanctions -- (inaudible) --
CARNEY: Again, I think that we're certainly not going to give sanctions relief absent action by --
GARRETT: So you would strengthen them, intensify them?
CARNEY: It's hard for me to -- we have steadily, over the past five years, strengthened and intensified, with our partners around the world, the sanctions regime against Iran. I think right now we're exploring the possibility that Iran is serious about resolving this challenge, and we want to do that.