Clinton threatens new sanctions on Iran

Washington: Iran's crackdown on dissent over the June 12 election suggests the leadership may be unwilling to consider curbing its nuclear ambitions, a position that would prompt the US to call for tougher international sanctions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

"Even though we are cautiously pursuing a policy of engagement, we are doing it with our eyes open," Clinton said in an interview with Venezuela's Globovision network.

"We understand that, given the problems Iran has just demonstrated, it may not be possible - in which case we would ask the world to join us in imposing even stricter sanctions on Iran to try to change the behavior of the regime."

Hundreds of thousands of opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to the streets to protest his re-election, alleging last month's vote was rigged.

Authorities used force to quell the rallies, arresting hundreds of activists, many of them supporters of the main election challenger, former Prime Minister Mir Hussain Mousavi.

As many as 20 people were killed, according to state-run media, while Le Figaro cited hospital staff members in Tehran as saying at least 92 died.

Ahmadinejad has increased tensions with the West since taking office in August 2005, pursuing a nuclear programme that the US and several major allies say is a cover for weapons development.

"We obviously are concerned about Iran's regime, the pursuit of nuclear weapons, which would be very destabilising in the Middle East and beyond, the support for terrorism that Iran still pursues," Clinton said in the interview, which was televised in Venezuela on Wednesday.

The violent suppression of election protests shows that "Iran has not respected its own democracy," she said.

Iran's diplomatic ties have been further strained since the crackdown, jeopardising the prospect of talks with the West on the nuclear programme.

Nine Iranian employees of the UK Embassy in Tehran were arrested after being accused of fomenting post- election unrest for Britain.

The 27-member European Union summoned Iranian ambassadors after a senior cleric said on July 3 that some of the workers would be tried.

Six United Nations experts on human rights expressed "grave concern about reports of killings, ongoing arrests, use of excessive police force and the ill treatment of detainees" in a joint statement.