US President Barack Obama intends to ‘ratchet up pressure’ on Iran over its nuclear programme and believes Tehran is becoming increasingly isolated.
In an interview with CBS, which was filmed earlier this week and aired today, Mr Obama said: ‘The idea is to keep turning up the pressure.’
He reiterated that if Iran obtained the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, even if it did not actually make them, this would destabilise the Middle East and trigger a regional arms race.
‘We're going to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond but we're going to do so with a unified international community,’ Mr Obama said.
He said the Iranian government had become increasingly isolated internationally since he took office in January 2009.
Mr Obama discussed Iran and other issues with Chinese President Hu Jintao for about an hour yesterday.
Officials will begin discussing a new round of sanctions against Iran at the United Nations next week.
Iran says its nuclear programme is designed to produce electricity and is entirely peaceful.
