WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said yesterday the United States would pursue “aggressive sanctions” to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon that could potentially spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Obama, who had made the goal of pursuing dialogue with Iran a cornerstone of his administration’s foreign policy at the beginning of his presidency, said he had been successful in getting the international community to isolate Tehran.

“As we’ve seen, the Iranian government has been more concerned about preventing their people from exercising their democratic and human rights than trying to solve this problem diplomatically,” Obama said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier.

“That’s why we’re going to go after aggressive sanctions. We haven’t taken any options off the table. We are going to keep on pushing,” Obama said.

Iran denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and says its nuclear programme is aimed at generating electricity.

Obama said preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was one of his administration’s highest priorities.