WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama admitted Friday Iran's 'outrageous' crackdown on demonstrators would hit his hopes for direct talks, and escalated a heated public row with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Obama, who came to power vowing to engage US enemies, including Iran, sharply rejected Mr Ahmadinejad's demands for an apology for his previous comments on the post-election turmoil, in a further stiffening of US rhetoric.
President Obama said however that the talks compered by the international P5-plus-1 group over Iran's nuclear program would likely continue.
He argued that despite speaking out with a 'unified voice' on the violence in Teheran, the world needed to recognize that the prospect of Iran with nuclear weapons was a 'big problem'.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has been authorized by UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany - to discuss the issue with Teheran.
President Obama also offered a personal riposte for Mr Ahmadinejad's demands for an apology and accusations that the US president, despite a measured early response to the crackdown, had meddled in Iran's internal affairs.
The president also praised the 'bravery in the face of brutality' of protestors raising doubts about Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.
President Obama first responded to Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election with a measured approach, but hardened his tone on Tuesday following a crackdown on mass demonstrations supporting a rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel bemoaned the 'horrifying scenes' that she had seen from Iran. 'We will not forget those,' she said, and vowed to do everything to find out the number and identities of victims of the government crackdown.
Ms Merkel referenced her own upbringing in communist East Germany, saying it was important for victims to know the people of the world were aware of their plight. She also called for a 'diplomatic solution to prevent Iran from gaining possession of a nuclear weapon'. -- AFP
