Gates Warns Iran on Sanctions

Speaking of the Obama administration hinting at new sanctions placed on Iran, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a visit to the Kurdish regions of Iraq, dropped all subtlety:

President Obama had set a Dec. 31 deadline for Iran to respond to the proposals before he turns to pursuing what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called “crippling sanctions.”

“I think that you are going to see some significant additional sanctions imposed by the international community, assuming that the Iranians don’t change course,” Gates said.

Nor is the administration alone:

European Union leaders also warned Iran on Friday that it faced “appropriate measures” if it failed to respond to calls for negotiations. In a draft statement, the 27-nation body said it “expresses its grave concern that Iran has so far done nothing to rebuild confidence of the international community in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.” EU foreign ministers are expected to approve the draft statement at a Brussels meeting next month.