World | Robert Gates Gates Expects 'Significant' Sanctions on Iran Tehran still unwilling to yield on nukes By John Johnson Posted Dec 11, 2009 4:45 AM CST Copied President Jalal Talabani, right, meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, in Baghdad on Thursday. (AP Photo/Iraqi Government, ho) Robert Gates warned Iran today in the strongest language yet from the US that it faces serious economic sanctions because of its refusal to budge on nuclear talks. "I think that you are going to see some significant additional sanctions imposed by the international community, assuming that the Iranians don't change course," said the defense chief during a forum with US soldiers in Iraq. President Obama has given Tehran a deadline of Dec. 31 to open its facilities to inspectors, but that seems unlikely despite fleeting signs of progress in October. Gates played down the idea of a military strike, notes the New York Times. “You never take any options off the table, but the reality is that any military action would only buy some time, maybe two or three years." Read These Next A former NFL Pro Bowler has died at age 36. The massive AWS failure exposed a big problem with the internet. Major websites, apps affected by massive outage. Secret Service finds something strange pointed at Trump's plane. Report an error