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Q: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I'd like to ask the Vice President a question about Iran. With Tehran ignoring the U.N. deadline to discontinue and Ahmadinejad saying his country must stand up to the world, are you frustrated with the pace of diplomacy on Iran? And also Secretary Rice has said that the North Korea deal will serve as a model for Iran. And I'm just wondering if you could elaborate on that and explain just exactly how? And I'd be interested in the Prime Minister's thoughts about Iran, as well.

VICE PRESIDENT: Well, with respect to the second part of your question in terms of the Secretary's view on North Korea as a model, you really ought to direct those questions to Condi.

With respect to the first part of your question on Iran, we are deeply concerned and have made it very clear we're deeply concerned about Iran's activities. We see a nation that has been fairly aggressive in the Middle East as a sponsor of Hezbollah, working through the Syrians and Hezbollah to create problems for the government of Lebanon. They have made some fairly inflammatory statements -- their President, Ahmadinejad. They appear to be pursuing the development of nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment. We've worked with the European Community and through the United Nations to put in place a set of policies to persuade the Iranians to give up their aspirations and to resolve the matter peacefully. That's still our preference.

But I've also made the point and the President has made the point that all options are still on the table. Next step now is being debated between our government and the others involved. Nick Burns, the number three man in the State Department, is I believe in London today to negotiate with our European friends who have been in the effort, the Brits, the French and the Germans, on the future course of action that we want to pursue with respect to the United Nations sanctions and so forth. And I don't have anything beyond that, that I can say at this point other than that we believe it would be a serious mistake if a nation such as Iran were to become a nuclear power.

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