Secretary of State Clinton on Meet the Press

Martine Kaplan — July 27, 2009 – 10:53 am | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on “Meet the Press” yesterday to discuss Iran, Israel, her recent visit to Asia, and the administration, among other topics. Here are some highlights regarding Iran and Israel:

On Israel:

GREGORY: One of the big challenges here is preventing Israel from acting first…. Where do you fall on the spectrum of the administration views about the impact of a strike by Israel

CLINTON: ... Israel is a sovereign nation. Any sovereign nation facing what it considers to be an existential threat, as successive Israeli governments have characterized the possibility of Iran having a nuclear weapon would mean to them, is not going to listen to other nations, I mean, if they believe that they are acting in the furtherance of their survival. However, as Admiral Mullen said, you know, we continue to believe that very intensive diplomacy, bringing the international community together, making clear to the Iranians what the costs of their pursuit of nuclear weapons might be is the preferable route. So clearly, we have a, a long, durable relationship with Israel. We believe strongly that Israel’s security must be protected. But we also believe that pursuing this path with Iran that we’re on right now, that frankly we’re bringing more and more people to see it our way–I thought the G-8 statement was quite remarkable in that sense–is the better approach for us to take. So we will continue to work with all of our allies, and most particularly Israel, to determine the best way forward to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state.

On Iran:

CLINTON: I think it’s clear that we’re trying to affect the internal calculus of the Iranian regime. You know, the Iranian government, which is facing its own challenges of legitimacy from its people, has to know that that a pursuit of nuclear weapons, something that our country along with our allies stand strongly against. We believe as a matter of policy it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons. The G-8 came out with a very strong statement to that effect coming from Italy. So we are united in our continuing commitment to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

GREGORY: But if the United States decides to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, as has been the stated policy of the willingness to engage, are you not betraying this democratic movement trying to overthrow that regime?

CLINTON: I don’t think so, David, because you can go back in history–and not, you know, very long back–where we have negotiated with many governments who we did not believe represented the will of their people. Look at all the negotiations that went on with the Soviet Union. Look at the breakthrough and subsequent negotiations with communist China. That’s what you do in diplomacy. You don’t get to choose the people; that’s up to the internal dynamics within a society. But clearly, we would hope better for the Iranian people. We would hope that there is more openness, that peaceful demonstrations are respected, that press freedom is respected. Yet, we also know that whoever is in charge in Iran is going to be making decisions that will affect the security of the region and the world.

For a full video and transcript, click here.

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