The Obama administration may try direct talks with Iran to prevent the Islamic republic from pursuing its nuclear program, new US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said. In an interview on ‘National Public Radio’ (NPR) Rice said that the US views Iran's acquiring of nuclear capability "a grave threat to ourselves, to the region and indeed to Israel."
"The news today confirms what we all have feared and anticipated, which is that Iran remains in pursuit of its nuclear program. There's no ambiguity about that, and our aim is to combine enhanced pressures, and indeed the potential for direct engagement to try to prevent Iran from taking its program to fruition," Rice said.
She told NPR that America's interests can best be advanced by "seeking to build bridges and cooperative relationships. So we will extend our hand, we will look to others to do the same. But we won't pick unnecessary battles, we won't seek confrontation for confrontation's sake."
Rice said that the United States was committed to maintaining a "very strong relationship" with Israel no matter what kind of government prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu would form.
Meanwhile, the Central Council of Jews in Germany criticized a meeting over the weekend by the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder with Iranian leaders in Tehran. "Mr. Schröder is greatly damaging the reputation of Germany and the German Government," Stephan Kramer, secretary-general of the Jewish umbrella organization, said in a newspaper interview.
Read about the WJC's campaign to Stop the Iranian Threat
