Washington: The US President-elect, Barack Obama, said today that Iran with a nuclear ambition would be the biggest challenge of his administration and that he would move swiftly with a "new approach" soon after he takes over next week. "Well, I think that Iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges," Obama told the ABC news channel in an interview telecast today. "As I said during the campaign, you know, we have a situation in which not only is Iran exporting terrorism through Hamas, through Hezbollah, but they are pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East," Obama said. The President-elect indicated that his administration would adopt a new approach on Iran starting with diplomacy and dialogue. "We are going to have to take a new approach. And I ve outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start. That the international community is going to be taking cues from us in how we want to approach Iran," he said. "I think that sending a signal that we respect the aspirations of the Iranian people, but that we also have certain expectations in terms of how a international actor behaves, is...," Obama said. "I think a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk, but also clarity about what our bottom lines are. And we are in preparations for that. We anticipate that we re going to have to move swiftly in that area," he said.
Source : PTI