Obama warns US patience with Iran is limited (Roundup)

Oct 1, 2009, 20:19 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama said initial talks with Iran Thursday were 'constructive' but cautioned Tehran must take concrete steps to assure the world that its nuclear activities were peaceful and that US patience was 'not unlimited.'

Obama made remarks hours after talks, led by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana with Iran and included representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, concluded in Geneva.

Obama said Iran must come clean about its nuclear ambitions and allow UN inspectors 'unfettered' access to all of its nuclear facilities, included a second uranium enrichment facility that Iran had kept secret until last week.

'If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely and we are prepared to move toward increased pressure,' Obama said.

'We have made it clear that we will do our part to engage the Iranian government on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect but our patience in not unlimited,' Obama added.

Obama has shifted decades of US policy by expressing a willingness to hold direct discussions with Iran at senior levels. He has previously said the negotiations must produce positive results by the end of the year or Iran could face tougher sanctions from the UN Security Council.

Obama said Iran's agreeing to allow UN nuclear monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect all of the facilities and to move some of its enriched uranium to a third country so it can be prepared for use in civilian energy reactors, was a step towards building confidence.

'We support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power,' Obama said.

The US official at the meeting, Undersecretary of State William Burns, met separately with Iranian negotiator Saeid Jalili, marking the highest level of direct talks between the two countries in 30 years.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that during the bilateral meeting, Burns, in addition to the nuclear issues, also raised US concerns about human rights violations in Iran and the cases of US citizens being held in Iran.

Obama sharply criticized Iran last week after revealing it had built a second plant near Qom for enriching uranium. US officials said there was little question the facility was built to give Iran the option of producing nuclear material for a bomb. Iran rejected the allegation.

Standing with Obama at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to seek tough sanctions if Iran did not come clean.