BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton swiped hard at Iran on Wednesday, accusing its hardline leaders of fomenting divisions in the Arab world, promoting terrorism, posing threats to Israel and Europe, and seeking to “intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach.”
Her remarks, at the conclusion of two days of talks in Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, were notable for coming from an Obama administration that has raised the prospect of diplomatic engagement with Iran as part of a new direction in U.S. foreign policy.
In remarks to reporters aboard her plane en route from Ramallah to Brussels, Belgium, Clinton said that in her talks with Arab foreign ministers and other leaders she heard “over and over and over again” a deep-seated worry about threats posed by the Iranians.
“It is clear that Iran intends to interfere with the internal affairs of all of these people and try to continue their efforts to fund terrorism, whether it’s Hezbollah or Hamas or other proxies,” she said.
In Tehran on Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused President Barack Obama of following the same mistaken path as the Bush administration with his “unconditional” support of Israel. Khamenei also called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that is on the verge of collapse. He said Israel’s leaders should be put on trial for its military offensive in Gaza, which ended with a shaky cease-fire in mid-January.
During her visit to Ramallah, Clinton met with the top leaders of the Palestinian Authority that administers the West Bank, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. She then flew to Brussels for a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting today that is expected to focus on developing a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and prospects for improving relations with Russia. She offered strong support for Abbas, saying the Palestinian Authority is the “only legitimate government of the Palestinian people.”
