Cheney: Iran Faces 'Meaningful Consequences' if It Doesn't Curb Nuclear Program

washingtonpost: Vice President Cheney threatened Iran today with "meaningful consequences" if it fails to cooperate with international efforts to curb its nuclear program.

"For our part, the United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime," Cheney said in a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"And we join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Cheney's comments came as Russia appeared to close ranks with the United States over the Iranian nuclear issue. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Washington that the Russians had no "new proposal" for the Iranians.

In Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Commission is meeting on the issue, diplomats earlier had talked about a Russian proposal to let Iran carry out small-scale uranium enrichment for research, news services reported.

"The United States has been very clear that enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil is not acceptable because of the proliferation risk," Rice said at a joint State Department news conference with Lavrov. Rice and Lavrov, who also held a dinner meeting last night, then went to the White House to meet with President Bush. Read more

db: The Bush deal with India has already blasted a bomb-size loophole through the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty