WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- There's still time for diplomacy to work with Iran but the window of opportunity is closing quickly, a U.S. State Department official said.
U.S. President Barack Obama this week tightened sanctions on Iran. Those sanctions complement early U.S. and European sanctions targeting Iran's energy sector, which are meant to punish Tehran for its controversial nuclear program.
Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the State Department, said international negotiators were taking a wait-and-see approach to potential future talks with the Iranians.
A series of talks in the Middle East with Iran returned little in the way of nuclear assurances from Tehran.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, during visits with Israeli officials, that "focusing on diplomatic and economic sanctions" is having an effect on Iran.
Ventrell said sanctions pressure had an effect on the Iranian economy and the country's nuclear ambitions.
"We're still at a point where we think there is room to make this diplomacy work," he said. "It's not an indefinite window, but there is room for the diplomacy to work."
