Rice says no US security guarantees to Tehran

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that the United States was not offering security guarantees to Iran in a bid to end the dispute over its nuclear programme. “Security assurances are not on the table,” Rice told the Fox News on Sunday television programme.

 

“It’s obvious that in addition to the nuclear issue, we have other issues with Iran. We have a state in Iran that is devoted to the destruction of Israel. We have a state in Iran that meddles in the peace process” in the Middle East. Media reports have said that Britain, France and Germany, which are leading international talks with Iran, had asked Washington to provide guarantees that no threat would be made to the Iranian government. But Rice strongly denied that the European trio had asked for such guarantees.

 

“First of all, let me just set the record straight. We haven’t been asked to provide security assurances to Iran. “What we’re talking about is a package that will make clear to Iran that there are choices to be made, either that there will be sanctions and actions taken against Iran by the international community, or there’s a way for them to meet their civil nuclear concerns.”

 

She added: “You can’t take this question out of the context of what Iran is doing in the international system. Iran is a troublemaker in the international system, a central banker of terrorism. Security assurances are not on the table.”