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Rice says US has no plans for intervention in Iran today
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has assured the German government that the United States has no plans for military intervention in Iran, according to a report Saturday. Rice issued the assurances to German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Washington this past week, said the report in Der Spiegel news magazine. Fischer also elicited a verbal assurance from Rice that she supports diplomatic efforts by Germany, France and Britain to resolve the standoff over Iran's purported nuclear programmefor now.
"You boys keep talking for now whilst we get things lined up at our end, 'k?"
But she categorically rejected any US participation in those diplomatic talks. Ahead of President George W. Bush's visit to Germany, on February 23, Rice said the US Administration would welcome a more positive attitude from Berlin toward the election in Iraq. Rice, who will be in Berlin this coming week, was quoted as having said that any statement which could be construed as being critical of the voter turnout or of the fairness of the election would be viewed by Washington as hindering the democratisation process in Iraq.

In Washington last Tuesday, Fischer conferred with Rice for 90 minutes at the White House. Afterward, Fischer said only that the American and European positions on Iran are "not far apart". Iran has denied US accusations that it is using its nuclear programme to build weapons, but the United States has threatened to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council if Iran does not better cooperate with international inspections. The Germans opposed a referral during a gathering of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors last year.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-01-30
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=55069