Washington: The Obama Administration is close to calling the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, a media report said, adding the Department of Treasury will announce another set of sanctions on Syria.
In a news report, the CNN said the US is likely to make the announcement in the coming days after holding consultations with the members of the UN Security Council, which is expected up on last week's presidential statement that condemned the violence against peaceful protestors.
"We had the president's statement last week. But I think what's significant in terms of what further UN action would represent is that the chorus and the community of nations who do not want to stand silent in the face of this kind of violence is growing. And that's important, obviously, in a UN context if we're going to take further steps there," the State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.
The US, she said, was particularly interested in further oil and gas sanctions.
"This is not something that would particularly apply in the US context, because our economic contacts with Syria are limited. With regard to other things, we're asking all countries with trade relations with Syria to look deeply at what they can do to continue to pressure the regime," she said.
"Our concern had been that we hadn't had enough voices, particularly in the neighborhood, making clear that the path that he is on is unacceptable and is abhorrent. That has changed radically, particularly given his horrible choices in Hama and in Deir ez-Zor over the last week, Nuland said.
"So to start with, the political condemnation is growing. As you know, the US and many other countries have significant sanctions on Syria.
"We want to continue to work with our partners, and particularly those with continuing economic interest in Syria, to strengthen those sanctions. So those conversations are ongoing," she added.
Nuland said the US believes that further action in the UN would be helpful.
The actions that Assad has taken in the last week, she said, have certainly caught the attention of those countries which were more reticent to criticize him publicly, and that's why there has been stronger public condemnation.
"We continue to believe that that political condemnation needs to be followed by increasing action on the economic side to increase the pressure on Syria," Nuland said.
Comments
0 comment