'Iran's nuke statement based on politics, not physics'

Noting that Iran's statement are often based on politics rather than physics, the White House has said it does not believe in Iranian President Ahmadinejad's latest statement on Tehran's capability to produce highly enriched uranium.

"I think Iran has made a series of statements that are far more political than they are based on politics, not on physics," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily press briefing yesterday.

"The Iranian nuclear program has undergone a series of problems throughout the year. Quite frankly, what Ahmadinejad says -- he says many things and many of them turn out to be untrue," Gibbs said.

"We do not believe they have the capability to enrich to the degree to which they now say they are enriching," he said.

Asked if Iran is serious about the peaceful use of its nuclear program, Gibbs said that it should have then taken more seriously the offer of the United States, the International Atomic Energy Agency and its partners on the Tehran research reactor.

Iran cannot replace and continue to operate the Tehran Research Reactor at its current pace.

"So then not taking the IAEA up and its partners up on a very common sense offer leads, quite frankly, the world to believe that Iran has other ideas," he said.

"That's why -- and I would say this -- the reactions -- the actions of Iran have led the world to be more unified than at virtually any other point in the past many years."

"They have brought forward, through their actions, through their statements, our partners in the P5-plus-1 now moving in accord forward to taking those next steps," Gibbs said.

Responding to a question, Gibbs said that the Obama administration is working with its international partners for the next level of sanctions against Iran.

"The President is working through and with our partners on making that happen. This was not going to happen in Time Square when the ball hit zero. This was always going to take some important time."

The US and its allies were now more united on the issue of taking actions and consequences based on the statements and actions of Tehran, the official added.