Rice: Nations Must Not Incite Protests

Foster Klug, Yahoo News:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that violent protests in the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad could "spin out of control" if governments refuse to act responsibly. Rice, speaking from Washington on ABC television's "This Week," said Iran, in particular, should be urging its citizens to remain calm — not encouraging protests against Western embassies.

"If people continue to incite it, it can spin out of control," she said of the protests. Last week, demonstrators in Iran attacked the Danish, French and Austrian embassies with stones and firebombs.

The governments of Iran and Syria, Rice said, organize street protests whenever they want to make a point. READ MORE

"Everybody understands that there's a sense of outrage, that these cartoons were inappropriate in the Muslim world," Rice said. "But you don't express your outrage by going out and burning down embassies. ... You express your outrage peacefully."

Iran on Sunday rejected earlier U.S. and Danish accusations that the government had encouraged the protests.

The cartoons, first published in a Danish newspaper in September, were seen by millions of Muslims around the world as an attack on Islam and an insult to their revered prophet.

Separately, Rice said a "tremendous coalition" of nations has joined in saying that Iran has a right to a peaceful nuclear program — but not technologies that could lead to nuclear weapons.

"Nobody trusts them with that because they've been lying to the international community for 18 years," Rice said of Iran's nuclear weapons program. "The Iranians now need to step back, look at where they are, see that they're isolated on this issue ... and get back into negotiations."

When asked about reports that America was making plans for a possible military strike against Iran, Rice said the United States was dedicated to a diplomatic solution, but the "president never takes any options off the table."

Rice added that Iran would only "deepen its own isolation" if it withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Earlier Sunday, Iran reaffirmed its commitment to that international treaty, a day after its hard-line president implied that Tehran was considering withdrawing from the pact after being reported to the U.N. Security Council.

Tehran repeatedly has stressed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows it to pursue a nuclear program for peaceful purposes. It has said it will never give up the right to enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel.

The U.S. and its European allies believe Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons. Earlier this month, the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency reported Tehran to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, after talks failed between the Iranians and European negotiators.