U.S. says election won't ease pressure on Iran

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran would be wrong to believe it will be "off the hook" over its disputed nuclear program during the transition to a new U.S. administration, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

"One thing we all have to worry about is ... that somehow the Iranian leadership may think they are off the hook for a period of time," said Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

"What they need to understand through our considered diplomacy is that they are not off the hook," he told reporters.

He was responding to a question about whether pressure on Iran over its nuclear program could ease between the election of a new U.S. president in November and his inauguration next January.

The West says Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing bombs, while Tehran says it is for generating electricity.

Talks in Geneva ended in stalemate last Saturday with six major powers giving Iran two weeks to answer calls to rein in its nuclear program or face tougher sanctions.

"Six more months of Security Council violations is not going to put them (Iran) in any greater favor with any future U.S. president," Schulte said.

"Part of the strategy is to keep them on the hook, but also to make sure that, if we don't get a negotiated outcome, that the next administration, whoever is president, is in the strongest diplomatic position possible to continue work on this," he said.  Continued...