Related Country:
- Iraq
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Q In that speech this morning, also, Scott, the President once again said that Iran is trying to shape Iraq's constitution, that Iran is trying to influence the shaping of Iraq's constitution. What specifically is he talking about? Is he talking about financial support for certain politicians or parties, secret agents on the ground? Can you point to something specific?
MR. McCLELLAN: These are conversations the President has had with leaders in the region and that we've had with leaders of the interim government. I think the interim government has spoken to this issue and talked about how Iran is trying to influence the formation of their national assembly. And Iran has made commitments not to do that. They've made a commitment to play a constructive role in Iraq's development on its path to democracy. We want to see Iran live up to that commitment. Iran needs to stop interfering in internal political matters going on in Iraq. We want the Iraqi people to determine their future. The Iraqi people voted for their national assembly, and it's those leaders who should determine the formation of the leadership of that national assembly, the transitional national assembly.
Q The President also said that the Europeans are involved in these negotiations with Iran over Iran's nuclear weapons. Has he now fully endorsed the European desire to offer these economic carrots to Iran -- WTO membership and others?
MR. McCLELLAN: We are continuing to discuss our common strategy with our European friends. The President's recent trip showed that all of us have a common purpose, which is to make sure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. It's important that we work together to develop a common strategy to meet that shared goal, and we're having discussions with our European friends. They are the ones who are leading the diplomatic effort in discussions with Iran. We support those efforts, we want to see those efforts succeed. They have had some ideas that they have been talking about. The President listened to those ideas when he met with leaders from the European -- from those European countries during his European trip.
And I think it's also important to point out, when you're talking about a common strategy -- because that's important to making sure you get to your shared objective -- that if Iran continues its noncompliance, then you have to look at what steps you will take if that happens. And I noticed that Henry Kissinger had an interesting op-ed today in The Washington Post, and it talked about some of the questions that need to be answered as you move forward together to develop a common strategy, and, you know, it reflected some of our views, I think.
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Q How do you go about dismantling the Hezbollah, given how much popular support they have? And, also, how much help would the U.S. give the Syrian people and the Iranian people if they try to change their governments?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, our views in terms of Hezbollah are very well known. And in terms of Iran and Syria's continued support for terrorism, the President spoke about that earlier today: they need to end their support for terrorism. That's one of our concerns with those two countries. They need to change their behavior and get on the path that the rest of the Middle East is moving on, toward democratic process -- toward democratic progress.
Q But is the President telling the people of Syria and Iran he will help them, the United States will help them if they change their governments?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there are serious -- there are serious concerns we have about Syria and Iran. The President expressed those views earlier today, and those are what his views are. And we are continuing to work with the international community to get both nations to change their behavior and address the concern of the international community.
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