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Thursday, March 3, 2005

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  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, declaring "we cannot be relaxed about Iran," declined to rule out a U.S. attack. "The president of the United States never categorically rules out anything," she said in an interview with the British television network ITV.

But, Rice said, "diplomacy has time to work," and she hinted that Bush would approve economic overtures by U.S. allies to Iran. "We are supportive of the Europeans," she said.

On Syria, though, there appears to be no give in the hard U.S. position that it must withdraw its troops and security forces from Lebanon and permit the neighboring Arab country it has long dominated to run its own political affairs.

Speaking at a community college in Maryland, Bush demanded Syria give democracy a chance to flourish in Lebanon.

With France solidly aligned with the United States - in contrast to France's dissent from the Iraq war - Bush said, "The free world is in agreement that Damascus' authority over the political affairs of its neighbor must end."

A senior U.S. official, flying home from London with Rice after a conference to assist the Palestinians, said the administration was seeking pressure on Syria from other Arab states. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity.

In Damascus, however, the Syrian government went on the offensive in its controlled press, calling Rice haughty and arrogant for describing the ruling Baath party as "out of step with the growing desire for democracy in the Middle East."

In an editorial, the government-run Tishrin newspaper denounced the U.N. resolution that urged Syria to withdraw a "U.S.-Zionist plan" that "will not succeed without setting off fires."

In Washington, Turkish ambassador Osman Farul Logoglu urged the Bush administration to offer trade and other economic and diplomatic incentives to Syria to pull out.

"The chances of Syria withdrawing are greater than ever before," he said. "But it is obviously going to take a long time."

On another volatile front, Jackie Sanders, the chief U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency board of directors, dismissed Iran's claim that its nuclear program was a peaceful one.

In Vienna, she called the assertion cynical, and said the U.N. watchdog agency had catalogued a "startling list of Iranian attempts to hide and mislead and delay the work" of the IAEA.

She urged support for a U.S. campaign to refer Iran's activities to the U.N. Security Council. Earlier in the week, State Department officials said a U.S. move was unlikely before June.

With U.S. allies still relying on diplomacy, the United States would not be able to generate enough support for economic sanctions against Iran.

Instead, in a policy shift, Bush is on the verge of approving European sale of civilian aircraft parts and commercial planes to Iran and its eventual membership in the World Trade Organization.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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