WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is time for Iran to decide whether to focus on the past or open the door to greater opportunity, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.
From: www.reuters.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is time for Iran to decide whether to focus on the past or open the door to greater opportunity, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.
The statement, marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the start of a 444-day hostage crisis, comes as a standoff continues between Iran and world powers over Tehran's dispute nuclear program continues.
"It is time for the Iranian government to decide whether it wants to focus on the past, or whether it will make the choices that will open the door to greater opportunity, prosperity, and justice for its people," Obama said in the statement .
"Iran must choose," Obama said. "We have heard for thirty years what the Iranian government is against; the question, now, is what kind of future it is for."
Tehran and Washington have been at odds for years over Iran's nuclear program which Western powers fear is a covert effort to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.