Barack Obama has signalled a further escalation in the crisis over Iran’s nuclear ambitions by serving notice that punitive measures could be agreed “within weeks”.
Obama used a speech in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, to warn that the lesson of dealing with neighbouring North Korea was that Tehran must meet a deadline for complying with
international demands and would face unspecified “consequences” if it did not.
The president’s remarks came a day after Iran appeared to definitively reject a proposal put forward in Vienna last month for sending enriched uranium to Russia and France for further processing, leaving negotiations at an apparent dead end.
