WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama insists that “now is the time” for Iran to take meaningful steps to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West as he issued a direct appeal to the Iranian people on the eve of his first official trip to Israel. Obama used the occasion of Iran's new year celebration, as he has in the past, to try to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. But this time he focused squarely on its disputed nuclear program, which is expected to be high on the agenda when he visits Israel, Iran's arch-foe. In the video message with Persian subtitles, Obama coupled a call for Tehran to meet international demands to curb its nuclear ambitions with a warning that otherwise it would face further isolation — a suggestion that it could be hit with even tighter sanctions. In his statement to the Iranian people marking the Persian new year known as Nowruz, he stopped short of threatening military action if diplomacy and sanctions fail. In an interview on Israeli television last week, Obama made clear that military force remained a US option as a last resort. “Now is the time for the Iranian government to take immediate and meaningful steps to reduce tensions and work toward an enduring, long-term settlement of the nuclear issue,” he said as Tehran and world powers prepare for another round of nuclear talks in early April. Tempering his warning, Obama said the United States preferred a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the dispute that would give Tehran access to peaceful nuclear energy and “its rightful place among the community of nations.” “If the Iranian government continues down its current path, it will only further isolate Iran. This is the choice now before Iran's leaders,” he said. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon. Obama leaves Tuesday night for Israel, where he will hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called for a “credible” military threat against Iran and hinted at the prospect of a unilateral Israeli attack. Netanyahu last year set a “red line” for Iran, and Israeli officials have warned this tipping point could be reached by the spring or summer of 2013. Obama, who has urged patience from Netanyahu, said last week that Iran was still more than a year away from developing a nuclear bomb if it made the final decision to build one. Meantime, Iran's latest talks with Washington and other world powers plus adjustments in Tehran's uranium enrichment processes are widely thought to have pushed back the Israeli deadline, making an imminent attack unlikely. World powers have given Iran fresh details on the proposed deal aimed at ending international concern over Tehran's nuclear program during talks in Istanbul, the European Union said Tuesday in Brussels. At the talks Monday, experts from the five permanent UN Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — plus Germany “had technical discussions with Iran,” said a brief statement from a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Monday's technical exchange will be followed by political talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 5 and 6, said Michael Mann, the spokesman for Ashton, who heads the talks between the six powers and Iran. — Agencies
