March 29, 2006
The US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that Iran was a menace for reasons other than its alleged drive to build a nuclear bomb and that the United States and its allies had "a number of tools" if Tehran did not change its ways. "I think there is no doubt that Iran is the single biggest threat from a state that we face," Rice told a Senate panel on Tuesday. "We need now to broaden that thinking and that coalition, not just to what Iran is doing on the nuclear side but also what they're doing on terrorism," Rice said. She repeated claims that Iran was meddling in neighboring Iraq, bankrolling terrorism in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and repressing its own people. "We have a number of tools at our disposal, including in sharpening the contradiction between the Iranian people and a regime that does not represent them," Rice said. US$ 75 million has been requested to promote democracy in Iran could be used for that fight, she said. Options could include other measures at the United Nations Security Council to "further isolate the Iranian government" Rice told senators.
Read about the WJC's compaign for international condemnation of President Ahmadinejad
