US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday urged Muslim leaders to help halt Iran's sensitive nuclear work and detected a possible shift in China toward supporting sanctions against Tehran. “It's time for Iran to be held to account for its activities which do already and can continue to have destabilizing effects,” she said in a speech to the US-Islamic World Forum. “I would like to figure out a way to handle it,” Clinton said after voicing fears about “the rise of the influence and power” of the Revolutionary Guards. “Certainly, we don't want to be engaging while they're building their bomb.” During a regional tour that will also take her to Saudi Arabia, the chief US diplomat added to the US sense of urgency after Iran began Tuesday to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity while insisting its intent was peaceful. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is expected to discuss with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her visit to the Kingdom today, ways of giving the peace process new impetus as well as other issues of concern in the Middle East. Strengthening political, economic and trade relations between Riyadh and Washington will be on the agenda, along with Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran's nuclear aspirations, and US efforts to work with the Islamic World. “Iran leaves the international community little choice but to impose greater costs for its provocative steps,” she said after talks with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani, who is both foreign minister and prime minister. “We are now working actively with our regional and international partners... to prepare and implement new measures to convince Iran to change its course,” she said. Clinton also met in Doha with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan whose country has good ties with Iran and has repeatedly offered to serve as mediator on the nuclear issue. Clinton struck an upbeat note about support for sanctions among the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France. She said Russia has said “publicly and privately that it can and will support sanctions,” and detected a shift in the Chinese position. “The weight is maybe beginning to move toward not wanting to be either isolated or inadvertently contributing to instability that would undermine their economic interests,” she said. She recalled China's investment stake in Iran and its oil imports from that country. US diplomatic sources told Okaz that Clinton will present King Abdullah with a letter from President Obama concerning US efforts to revive Palestinian-Israeli talks. The spokesman for the US State Department, Michael Ratney, told Okaz that Clinton's visit represented an opportunity for the discussion of issues surrounding the Arab and Islamic World, as well as the Middle East peace process. During her two-day visit to the Kingdom, Clinton will hold extensive talks with Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affair, on bilateral relations, the Middle East, and Yemen. On Tuesday Clinton will meet in Jeddah with the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, to discuss issues concerning the Islamic World to seek solutions to Islamic matters of concern and realize the aspirations of the Palestinian people. The meeting comes only days after President Obama announced Saturday the appointment of Rashad Hussein as special envoy to the OIC as the president seeks to dampen concern in the Islamic World at increasing hatred towards Islam in the West. Speaking to the US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital Doha via a recorded video message, Obama said that he hoped to “strengthen partnerships with the Islamic World”.
