Iran is probably the No 1 challenge to the United States, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday after Tehran vowed no compromise in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear programs.
Rice, who wants the United Nations Security Council this month to start taking action against Iran that could lead to sanctions, also repeated concerns that Washington believes Tehran supports anti-Israel militants and meddles in neighbouring Iraq.
"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran, whose policies are directed at developing a Middle East that would be 180 degrees different than the Middle East we would like to see developed," Rice said at a congressional hearing.
Faced with the threat of eventual international sanctions, Iran warned the United States on Wednesday it could also inflict "harm and pain" in its dispute over nuclear programs that it says are peaceful despite Western suspicions it wants a bomb.protester disrupts hearing with Rumsfeld, Rice
A protester shouting "This is an illegal and immoral war" interrupted the start of a hearing Thursday on Iraq with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"How many of you have children in this illegal and immoral war," the unidentified man said as Rice began her opening statement. "The blood is on your hands and you cannot wash it away." The man was escorted from the Senate hearing room, shouting "Fire Rumsfeld! Fire Rumsfeld! This is an illegal and immoral war."
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