Obama persists with hard line on Iran nuke issue

[April 20, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the United States will continue to "ratchet up the pressure" on Iran to reveal its nuclear intentions to the rest of the world.

In an interview broadcast Friday on CBS's "The Early Show," Obama said "all the evidence" indicates that Tehran is trying to get a nuclear weapons capacity. With such a capability, Obama said that Iran could "destabilize" life in the Mideast and trigger an arms race in the region.

Obama said, "I think the idea here is to keep on turning up the pressure." He had said earlier this week he wanted new, stronger U.N. sanctions to be in place by late spring. The president also said he believes the country has become "further isolated" from the rest of the world since he took office.

[Associated Press]

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