MR. McCLELLAN: Well, like I said, they've made such statements in the past that they would be open to talking about the matters in Iraq. But we'll have to see. You can understand why we remain skeptical, given their history on a variety of issues. This is a regime that we have a number of concerns about. We're concerned about their continued pursuit of nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program. That is an issue that the regime has with the international community. And that's why the international community is continuing to step up pressure and make it very clear to the regime that they need to change their behavior and stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons. They need to suspend their enrichment activities. They need to come into compliance with their safeguard obligations and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. They have not been doing that, and that's why the matter was reported to the Security Council. We're concerned about their sponsorship of terrorism. We're concerned about their behavior in the broader Middle East. They are moving in the wrong direction. They're playing an unhelpful role in the broader Middle East. They continue to support terrorist organizations. They continue -- the regime continues to repress its people. We continue to stand with the people of Iran and their aspirations for greater freedom. But the question you bring up is specifically relating to Iraq, and that's why it would be very limited to that topic and to our ambassador expressing our concerns directly to Iran. This has been a longstanding authorization that our ambassador has had. We previously had discussions with Iran about Afghanistan.

seen at 12:54, 17 March in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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