Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that Iran's resistance to a new round of proposed U.N. sanctions proves that they might work.
The U.S. introduced a resolution this week calling for a series of economic and trade restrictions related to Iran's nuclear and weapons programs, after winning support from China and Russia.
The U.N. has imposed three previous rounds of sanctions, but that has not kept Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions. The U.S. fears that Iran's programs could one day lead to development of atomic weapons.
Gates said Thursday that if Iran felt it could ignore the latest sanctions, "I don't think you'd seem them expending the kinds of diplomatic and other kinds of energy to try to prevent its passage."
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