Clinton wants Iran sanctions with 'bite'

The U.S. is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

In a speech delivered to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., Clinton said Iran's leaders must know there are "real consequences" if they fail to give up their nuclear ambitions.

"Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite," Clinton told the audience.

If Iran developed a nuclear weapon, it would embolden terrorists and spark an arms race that would destabilize the Middle East, Clinton said.

Iran has denied it wants to build a nuclear bomb, and said its atomic program is only for the purposes of generating electricity.

The Iranian government has ignored U.S. President Barack Obama's attempts at diplomatic engagement. It has also rejected incentives offered by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. — and Germany to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a bomb.

Israel regards Iran as a threat to its existence, and impatience is growing in the Jewish state for fresh action against the country. Iran is already under three sets of Security Council sanctions and the U.S. and its European allies are pressing for a fourth.

China veto prevents quick action

But China, which can block penalties with its veto power in the council, is opposed to slapping more sanctions on Iran and has scuttled the Obama administration's plans for quick action.

Clinton acknowledged that building support for new sanctions was taking time but said it was worth the wait.

"It is taking time to produce these sanctions, and we believe that time is a worthwhile investment for winning the broadest possible support for our efforts," she said.

Clinton also took aim Monday at Iranian hard-liners who cracked down on opposition supporters during disputed elections last year.

"Elements in Iran's government have become a menace, both to their own people and in the region," she said.

Her comments came a day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced the U.S., accusing it of plotting to overthrow its clerical leadership, in a chilly response to Obama's latest overture for better cultural ties with Iran.

Khamenei did not outright refuse Obama's offer but the supreme leader said that so far, Washington's offers of engagement with Tehran have been a deception.