Iran letter: Rice has problems with it

Rice on Ahmadinejad's letter

"The first read of it: there is nothing in this letter that in any way addresses any of the issues, really, that are on the table in the international community, the nuclear program, in a straightforward way; the terrorism issues."

- "I think it would be best to say it's broadly philosophical in its character. It's 17 or 18 pages, I think, and it is most assuredly not a proposal. Let me be very clear about that ... There's nothing in here that would suggest that we're on any different course than we were before we got the letter."

- "It's not concrete in any way and it does not engage the issues ... It's broadly philosophical, a little bit historical ... I don't see it as an opening."

- "This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort ... It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way. Absence of communication isn't really the problem here. We and the international community have been very clear with the Iranians what they need to do."

- "The Europeans, the Russians, the Chinese, just about everybody in the world is talking to the Iranians and communicating precisely what it is they need to do ... I think we don't want to get into a diversion of who they are, are not talking to. I think we want to keep the focus on what needs to be done"


Rice on the prospects for 'Iraqi national unity' [hang separately or together]:

"We (Americans) don't look at how hard they're working to hang together, because they literally will hang separately or hang together, literally [sic]. There's no stronger incentive to get it right than the incentives that they have." Read more