Iran attack 'not on US agenda'
Midday update
Iran attack 'not on US agenda'
Staff and agenciesFriday February 4, 2005
Guardian UnlimitedGeorge Bush's new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, insisted today that the US had no plans to attack Iran "at this point".
Ms Rice, who is on her first foreign trip since taking over from Colin Powell as the top US diplomat last month, was speaking after Downing Street talks with the prime minister, Tony Blair, and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. The talks marked the beginning of a week-long tour of Europe and the Middle East.
Initially evasive when asked in a press conference whether the US still stood by a pledge - made last year by the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage - that it did not support regime change in Iran, Ms Rice was then asked directly whether she could envisage a time in Mr Bush's presidency when Iran might come under attack from the US. "It is quite simply not on the agenda at this time," she said. "There are plenty of diplomatic means at our disposal to get the Iranians to finally live up to their international obligations."
She also said the Islamic state could not ignore last week's election in Iraq. "Iran is not immune to changes in the region," she said. "Iraqis voting in Iran must have an effect on the Iranian people."
Ms Rice insisted that Iran "engages in activities that are destabilising the region" and that its support of terrorism was aimed at undermining the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The theme was echoed by Mr Straw, who suggested it was time for Iran to recognise the state of Israel. "If Iran is going to be a full member of the international community, it cannot go on denying that one member of that community exists," he said.
Ms Rice, who was national security adviser in Mr Bush's first term in office, again repeated that Iran should not use the cover of civilian nuclear development to sustain a programme that could lead to the development of a nuclear bomb.
However, there was no hint that the US might accept an invitation from the so-called E3 - the UK, France and Germany - to join their negotiations with Tehran. "The E3 have given Iran an opportunity to live up to international obligations. They ought to take it," Ms Rice said, maintaning the tough tone she has assumed since taking office.
In a week that has seen Mr Bush describe Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror", she yesterday said its approach to human rights and its treatment of its own citizens was "loathsome". "I don't think anybody thinks that the unelected mullahs who run that regime are a good thing for the Iranian people and for the region," she added.
Today, Ms Rice declined to reply to the insistence by Iran's supreme leader that US policy would fail. "America is like one of the big heads of a seven-headed dragon," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday. "The brains directing it are Zionist and non-Zionist capitalists who brought Bush to power to meet their own interests."
Mr Straw said that he, Mr Blair and Ms Rice had also discussed Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and the Middle East, and he welcomed the secretary of state's decision to attend Mr Blair's London summit on the Palestinian situation next month.
However, despite travelling to the region next week, Ms Rice has no plans to attend a summit in Egypt at which the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, will meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. She has already indicated that the US may for now take a back seat in the international effort to bring about peace.
"Not every effort has to be an American effort," she told reporters on her flight to London yesterday. "It is extremely important that the parties themselves are taking responsibility. It is extremely important that the regional actors are taking responsibility."
Ms Rice is expected to offer US assistance in training Palestinian security forces when she meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Monday. However, Palestinian officials are concerned that she will press them to return to a plan put forward by George Tenet, the former CIA director, which requires them to disarm and detain militant groups.
Mr Abbas is reluctant to confront Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups, preferring to invite them into a comprehensive political and security agreement.
Before she arrives in Israel, Ms Rice's hectic itinerary will take her to Berlin, Warsaw and Ankara tomorrow. She will stay in Turkey overnight before meeting the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Sunday, and then flying to Tel Aviv.
On Monday evening, she will fly to Rome, where she will meet the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and - should his health allow it - the Pope on the following day.
On Tuesday afternoon, she will face her biggest challenge - delivering a keynote speech on transatlantic relations in Paris - before meeting French ministers on Wednesday, as well as Nato and EU officials in Brussels and Luxembourg.
Ms Rice's trip paves the way for Mr Bush's own European tour later this month, which will include an EU-US summit. Ms Rice said her boss had emphasised his desire to "reinvigorate" the US's relationships with European countries.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1405857,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/international/middleeast/04diplo.html?ex=1265259600&en=c94341f7c8e1d427&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
http://cnn.allpolitics.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Rice+signals+harder+line+on+Iran+-+Feb+3%2C+2005&expire=-1&urlID=13105755&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2005%2FALLPOLITICS%2F02%2F03%2Frice%2Findex.html&partnerID=2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4233515.stm
Iran attack 'not on US agenda'
Staff and agenciesFriday February 4, 2005
Guardian UnlimitedGeorge Bush's new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, insisted today that the US had no plans to attack Iran "at this point".
Ms Rice, who is on her first foreign trip since taking over from Colin Powell as the top US diplomat last month, was speaking after Downing Street talks with the prime minister, Tony Blair, and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. The talks marked the beginning of a week-long tour of Europe and the Middle East.
Initially evasive when asked in a press conference whether the US still stood by a pledge - made last year by the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage - that it did not support regime change in Iran, Ms Rice was then asked directly whether she could envisage a time in Mr Bush's presidency when Iran might come under attack from the US. "It is quite simply not on the agenda at this time," she said. "There are plenty of diplomatic means at our disposal to get the Iranians to finally live up to their international obligations."
She also said the Islamic state could not ignore last week's election in Iraq. "Iran is not immune to changes in the region," she said. "Iraqis voting in Iran must have an effect on the Iranian people."
Ms Rice insisted that Iran "engages in activities that are destabilising the region" and that its support of terrorism was aimed at undermining the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The theme was echoed by Mr Straw, who suggested it was time for Iran to recognise the state of Israel. "If Iran is going to be a full member of the international community, it cannot go on denying that one member of that community exists," he said.
Ms Rice, who was national security adviser in Mr Bush's first term in office, again repeated that Iran should not use the cover of civilian nuclear development to sustain a programme that could lead to the development of a nuclear bomb.
However, there was no hint that the US might accept an invitation from the so-called E3 - the UK, France and Germany - to join their negotiations with Tehran. "The E3 have given Iran an opportunity to live up to international obligations. They ought to take it," Ms Rice said, maintaning the tough tone she has assumed since taking office.
In a week that has seen Mr Bush describe Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror", she yesterday said its approach to human rights and its treatment of its own citizens was "loathsome". "I don't think anybody thinks that the unelected mullahs who run that regime are a good thing for the Iranian people and for the region," she added.
Today, Ms Rice declined to reply to the insistence by Iran's supreme leader that US policy would fail. "America is like one of the big heads of a seven-headed dragon," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday. "The brains directing it are Zionist and non-Zionist capitalists who brought Bush to power to meet their own interests."
Mr Straw said that he, Mr Blair and Ms Rice had also discussed Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and the Middle East, and he welcomed the secretary of state's decision to attend Mr Blair's London summit on the Palestinian situation next month.
However, despite travelling to the region next week, Ms Rice has no plans to attend a summit in Egypt at which the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, will meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. She has already indicated that the US may for now take a back seat in the international effort to bring about peace.
"Not every effort has to be an American effort," she told reporters on her flight to London yesterday. "It is extremely important that the parties themselves are taking responsibility. It is extremely important that the regional actors are taking responsibility."
Ms Rice is expected to offer US assistance in training Palestinian security forces when she meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Monday. However, Palestinian officials are concerned that she will press them to return to a plan put forward by George Tenet, the former CIA director, which requires them to disarm and detain militant groups.
Mr Abbas is reluctant to confront Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups, preferring to invite them into a comprehensive political and security agreement.
Before she arrives in Israel, Ms Rice's hectic itinerary will take her to Berlin, Warsaw and Ankara tomorrow. She will stay in Turkey overnight before meeting the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Sunday, and then flying to Tel Aviv.
On Monday evening, she will fly to Rome, where she will meet the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and - should his health allow it - the Pope on the following day.
On Tuesday afternoon, she will face her biggest challenge - delivering a keynote speech on transatlantic relations in Paris - before meeting French ministers on Wednesday, as well as Nato and EU officials in Brussels and Luxembourg.
Ms Rice's trip paves the way for Mr Bush's own European tour later this month, which will include an EU-US summit. Ms Rice said her boss had emphasised his desire to "reinvigorate" the US's relationships with European countries.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1405857,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/international/middleeast/04diplo.html?ex=1265259600&en=c94341f7c8e1d427&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
http://cnn.allpolitics.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Rice+signals+harder+line+on+Iran+-+Feb+3%2C+2005&expire=-1&urlID=13105755&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2005%2FALLPOLITICS%2F02%2F03%2Frice%2Findex.html&partnerID=2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4233515.stm
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