After all, both parties are trying to avoid using military means to end the quarrel in Iranian case of nuclear program. The United States has been struggling to convince world powers to go together with it to make Iran's religious leaders accept the fact it can no more stand against international calls to stop its nuclear program. US allies in Europe managed to quickly adopt a resolution to set the deadline for stopping oil imports from Iran.
The oil-rich country mainly relies on its natural resources for strengthening its military power and sustaining the radical religious system three decades later than the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Obama administration began a world-wide lobbying to impose diplomatic and economic pressures on Iranian government to stop its Uranium enrichment program soon after he came to office in January 2009.
He has been making all-out efforts to meet the objective with no military means brought into the scene. Finally, it has afforded to encourage world countries to accompany it on the way to create a nuclear-free Iran. President Obama is, after all economic sanctions and diplomatic pressures imposed on Iran, hopeful of a peaceful solution for Iran's controversial nuclear program.
In his last State of the Union address in his first term of presidency, Obama that a peaceful outcome was still possible in the international standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions while he declined to rule out the military option. His remarks suggested the window for diplomacy was narrowing at a time when Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz -- a key waterway for the world's oil -- in the face of tightening international sanctions.
The world community has overcome its divisions and was now united on how to check Iran's nuclear ambitions, Obama told lawmakers from both chambers of the US Congress during his annual State of the Union speech. The president said such unity was achieved through "the power of our diplomacy," glossing over the fact that Russia and China remain opposed to the tightening sanctions.
"The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent," Obama said. "Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal," the president declared, triggering a standing ovation. "But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better," the president said. "And if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations."
In November, a UN International Atomic Energy Agency report said the agency was able to build an overall impression that Tehran "carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device." Iran rejected the report as baseless.
The United States and the European Union have since stepped up sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry and central bank in a bid to force Iran to stop uranium enrichment, which they fear masks a drive to produce an atomic bomb. Iran insists its enrichment program is purely peaceful.
Iran's leaders have warned they could close the Strait of Hormuz if increased Western sanctions over Tehran's suspect nuclear program halt Iranian oil exports. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week that the United States is "fully prepared" for any confrontation with Iran over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but hopes a dispute would be resolved peacefully. Despite statements from Iran that it wants to return to negotiations last held in Turkey a year ago, the six powers dealing with Iran's nuclear program have yet to receive an adequate response, according to the European Union.
In the meantime, on Friday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Tehran to halt its nuclear program and to resume talks with Western powers, saying that the onus is on Iran to prove its good intentions. "There is no other alternative to addressing this crisis than peaceful resolution through dialogue," said Ban the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
Ban's comments came after Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Tehran was not dodging negotiations and was ready to sit down with world powers -- Britain China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany for talks.
The six world powers are waiting for Tehran to reply to an October letter sent by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that stresses that discussions should focus on the "key question" of the Iranian nuclear issue. Previous talks held a year ago in Istanbul ended without progress. "Iran should comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions. They have to prove themselves, that their nuclear development programme is genuinely for peaceful purposes which they have not done yet," UN secretary general said.
The tightening sanctions are said to be aimed at avoiding military interventions to solve the long lasting controversy. Analysts have warned on further conflicts over Iran's nuclear issue that may lead to any military strike by Israel of possibly the US government as Obama administration has never rejected a military response to the problem when all other options prove ineffective.
As seen, relations between Iran and the West, fraught with tension and conflict for decades, have in the past few months reached a fever pitch. There is talk of war on a daily basis from both sides. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, have been spent both to fuel the Iranian missile and nuclear program and the counter-measures taken by the West to frustrate it.
Leaders on both sides have worked themselves into paroxysms of rage regarding the alleged homicidal intentions of the other side.
Certain commentators have asserted that the situation is volatile and the danger of war real. But the premise of the Western approach to Iran has dangerous shortcomings.
There is a common conception of Western policy as based on a two-pronged, carrot and stick approach: one a diplomatic track and the other a military threat. There is certainly the guise of a real diplomatic track. Both sides have talked at various times of the need for negotiations, and for very short periods there have been talks.
Recently, Iran expressed willingness to begin a new round of talks with its opponents about its nuclear program. European countries are imposing unprecedented sanctions against Iran in part in hopes of preventing an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations that could further destabilize the Middle East and wreak havoc on the global economy.
The decision few days ago by the European Union to phase out purchases of Iranian oil by July 1 is timed to US legislation that has the same deadline for sanctions against foreign banks that continue to do business with the Iranian central bank. However, European and US experts on Iran cite the fear of a new war as a key reason for the EU decision.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, answering questions last Tuesday in the House of Commons, said the new sanctions were designed "to lead us away from any conflict by increasing the pressure for a peaceful settlement of these disputes".