“U.S. encourages everybody to buy less Iranian crude”

The United States is encouraging everybody to buy less Iranian crude, as little as possible, to find alternative sources of supply in the context of the economic squeeze, U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a daily briefing in Washington, U.S. State Department website reported. "All of us try to encourage Iran to come clean with the international community about its nuclear weapons program," she added. The United States stated earlier that all options are on the table to deal with Iran for its nuclear program which Tehran insists in purely for civilian purposes. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has right to develop nuclear technology for civilian uses. Tensions over Iran's nuclear activities have reached boiling point since the Islamic Republic announced earlier this month that it had launched a nuclear enrichment program at a well-protected underground facility near the city of Qom. Nuland pointed out that the U.S. is not going to give individual countries a grade, in case with Iran. "It is a general message that we are giving to everybody. In each case, the circumstances are quite specific in terms of the relationships countries have with Iran, in terms of their energy needs, in terms of where and how they might find alternative sources of supply," she said. "We are working with each country on an individual basis. But we're not going to be grading."