Israel Matzav: Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions

Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions

Laura Rozen reports on a press briefing on Iran sanctions by two of Obama's national security advisers in Prague.

Obama national security advisers Michael McFaul and Ben Rhodes, and spokesman Robert Gibbs briefed the press today on Iran sanctions in Prague. McFaul said that Iran had been a substantial topic of discussion at a meeting today between Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“We want to use sanctions to change Iranian behavior,” McFaul says.

Medvedev gave Obama details on what would and would not be acceptable to Russia in the new resolution, McFaul said.

"We discussed categories of the new resolution today," McFaul said. "But we are in the heart of what should be in the resolution." The process toward sanctions, he said, "took a step forward today."

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From 44:

Asked at a press conference in Prague whether Iran sanctions on the energy sector have been taken off the table by the Russians, Michael McFaul, an adviser on Russian affairs, says "it is not off the table."

"Where it ends out, I honestly don't know," the White House adviser says, but it is not a "category" that is off the table.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, says, "We have not set regime change as a goal of these sanctions."

What, they think Ahmadinejad is going to change his mind? You have got to be kidding.

Israel Matzav: Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions