25 January 2008
Rice Says United States Does Not Want Iran as a Permanent Enemy
Tells delegates to World Economic Forum U.S. harbors “no permanent hatreds”
Washington -- Saying the United States “has no permanent enemies,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reached out to Iran, urging the country’s officials to cease their support for violent groups and the pursuit of technologies that could lead to possession of a nuclear weapon. In return, she said, both countries could work together for normalized relations and growing bilateral cooperation.
Rice told international delegates to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that disagreements over Iran's continued uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities "can and should be resolved through diplomacy."
The United States “has no desire to have a permanent enemy in Iran, even after 29 years of difficult history,” she said January 23. Rice also praised Iran’s culture and contribution to world civilization. But there are “real differences” with the Iranian government over its support for terrorism, destabilizing actions in Iraq and nuclear activities, she said.
The January 22 agreement among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany to pass a third sanctions resolution against Iran demonstrates “that we remain united, that we do not want Iran to become a nuclear weapons power, and that we will continue to hold Iran to its international obligations,” Rice said.
However, if Iran is willing to meet international demands, “we could begin negotiations, and we could work over time to build a new, more normal relationship –- one defined not by fear and mistrust, but growing cooperation, expanding trade and exchange, and the peaceful management of our differences.”
Rice also told the forum that the United States will continue to work for political and economic freedom, open markets and human rights worldwide because “we do not accept a firm distinction between our national interests and our universal ideals.”
She acknowledged international skepticism of American motives and ideals, and that the United States sometimes is perceived as a nation that does not dwell enough on its history. “To that, I say: Good for us. Because too much focus on history can become a prison for nations,” she said.
“America has no permanent enemies, because we harbor no permanent hatreds,” Rice said, adding that diplomacy can transform enemies, if not into friends, then at least into nations, which no longer are adversaries.
The secretary pointed to the recent transformation of the long hostile U.S. relationship with Libya. “[A]s Libya has chosen to reject terrorism, to renounce its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and to rejoin the international community, the United States has reached out, and today, though we still have our differences, we have nothing to fear from one another,” she said.
Likewise, former adversaries such as Vietnam, Russia and China have become countries with which the United States now is cooperating on trade and international security issues.
“Optimism and confidence in our ideals are perhaps a part of the American character, and I admit that this can make us a somewhat impatient nation,” Rice said, but despite short-term tensions and challenges to its idealistic policies, “we know that they tend to be in harmony when we take the long view.”
The full text of Rice’s keynote speech is available on America.gov.
