Political Quotes

“I wish to speak on the latest round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran. This past Monday, the Security Council voted 14 to 0 to increase sanctions on Iran in response to its continued enrichment of uranium. I applaud the United Nations for pursuing the diplomacy necessary to avoid hostilities. The vote was another step on the long diplomatic path toward increasing stability in the Middle East, but more remains to be done. Among other measures, these sanctions are important in restricting the travel and freezing the assets of certain Iranian officials and banks. The U.N. is now following the American lead in taking action against banks like Bank Melli which are deeply involved financially with the Iranian Government and its nuclear program. The near unanimity shown by members of the Security Council, including the five veto-holding countries, was a strong and unmistakable signal of the international community's condemnation of Iranian policies. That signal would be even stronger if the Security Council members--and Russia and China in particular--would take further economic measures, including against Iran's energy sector. These countries need to realize that a nuclear-armed Iran does not just threaten the United States or the West but indeed the entire Middle East, the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and potentially the world. The very idea of a nuclear Iran is chilling.”