On The Sixth Day Of...

    

Condoleezza Rice turned Washington's rhetoric on Iran up another notch yesterday, telling Iranians they would have to "live up to their international obligations" to avoid a conflict with Israel.
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The Bush administration has sent mixed signals to Tehran in the past week, mixing bellicose and reconciliatory remarks, amid reports that the Pentagon is already sending special operations teams into Iran to spot potential targets.

In an interview on BBC's Breakfast with Frost, recorded on Friday but broadcast yesterday, Ms Rice was asked about remarks last month by Vice-President Dick Cheney, who warned of a possible pre-emptive strike against Iran by Israel - which already has a nuclear arsenal - if the latter felt threatened.

In response, Ms Rice put the onus on Iran, saying: "Obviously, anything that would lead to conflict in this region would be a terrible, terrible thing. And the Iranians need to live up to their international obligations so we don't face any such point."

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Ms Rice, on being asked in the BBC interview whether the administration would support regime change, said: "All of us would have to agree that the behaviour of this Iranian regime in supporting terrorism, in sowing instability in the Middle East, in the way it treats its own people, is not a regime to be admired and certainly the Iranian people deserve the same opportunities for freedom and liberty that are beginning to take hold in other parts of the Middle East."

» Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Rice warns Iran against provoking Israel