Rice Expresses Confidence Over Iran Crisis

April 20, 2006 7:43 p.m. EST
 

Joanna Wypior - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, says that she feels confident that a diplomatic solution will be found in order to resolve the crisis looming over Iran’s nuclear program and the international community.
The United Nations Security Council has given Iran a deadline of April 28 to halt uranium enrichment or face unspecified consequences.
"I believe we can make the diplomacy work," Rice said yesterday in Chicago. "And long before we get to the point that we have to contemplate diplomacy failing I believe we have options at our disposal."
Rice also said the United States is working to unify the international community in its goal to persuade the Iranians to cease enriching uranium which could be used in a nuclear bomb, according to reports.
However, Rice warned that military options remain on the table.
"The right to self-defense does not necessarily require a UN Security Council resolution," she says, noting that the United States went to war in the Balkans without one.
"It is important to note that the president doesn't take any options off the table," Rice adds. "We are prepared to use measures at our disposal- political, economic or others to persuade Iran."