Rice: US Seeks European Aid in Helping to Force Change in Iran

Voice Of America:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, beginning her first foreign trip as Secretary, says the United States is seeking European help in trying to deal with destabilizing Iranian behavior with regard to terrorism, nuclear weapons and Iraq.

She says the Iranian government's human rights record and treatment of its own people are something to be loathed.

Ms. Rice's comments on Iran in a talk with reporters en route to London were some of the strongest by a senior Bush administration official, though she stopped short of an outright call for regime change there. The Secretary, beginning a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East...

"In terms of the Iranian regime, I don't think anybody thinks that the unelected Mullahs who run that regime are a good thing for either the Iranian people or for the region," she explained.

"The region is going in a quite different direction. And the President last night said that the Iranian people deserve better, essentially. I think our European allies agree that the Iranian regime, its human rights behavior, and its behavior toward its population, is something to be loathed."

Ms. Rice said the Iranian people should have an opportunity to determine their own future, and be no different in that regard than Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans and Ukrainians, all of whom have had recent elections. ...

But she said Iranians have shown no real indication they are prepared to live up to international nuclear obligations and, in her words continue to play games every time they can. ...

This is further confirmation of the analysis I posted earlier today. The US administration is preparing to support regime change in Iran. But Europe is not ready to give up on the Iranian regime, yet.