Sunday, Jan. 22, 2006 12:46 p.m. EST
John McCain: Iran Crisis Most Serious Since Cold War
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/22/124748.shtml?s=et


Sen. John McCain said Sunday that Iran's bid for nuclear weapons is the most serious foreign policy crisis since the end of the Cold War.

"A nuclear capability in Iran is unacceptable," he told "Fox News Sunday."

Citing recent statements from Israeli defense officials, McCain said, "Put yourself in the position of the Israeli government. Your first obligation is to defend your people. And here's a country whose president calls for the eradication of your country from the map."

The Arizona Republican said that the Iranian nuclear program presents the U.S. with "the most serious crisis we have faced - outside of the entire war on terror - since the end of the Cold War."

McCain said he agreed with the Bush administration's decision to press for sanctions against Iran before the United Nation's Security Counsel, saying the move would force Moscow and Beijing to choose sides.

"If China and Russia want to be on record as being supportive of Iran in their nuclear ambitions, then I think that obviously has consequences as well," he warned.

The top 2008 presidential contender also argued that the U.S. must revive its nuclear power industry in order to free itself from energy dependence on countries run by "mullahs" and "wackos."

"We've got to get quickly on a track to energy independence from foreign oil," McCain told Fox. "And that means, among other things, going back to nuclear power."

McCain said that until the U.S. develops energy independence, "we better understand the vulnerabilities that the economy and our very lives have when we're dependent on Iranian mullahs and wackos in Venezuela."