US not aiming to hit Iran over Iraq role -Burns
Source: Reuters
By Mohammad Zargham WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States does not intend to strike Iran to force it to stop supplying Shi'ite groups with weapons technology to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, a senior U.S. official said. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in a radio interview broadcast on Thursday that Washington believed tensions with Tehran could be resolved diplomatically, although "all options are on the table concerning Iran." "We've been very clear we don't intend to cross the border into Iran, we don't intend to strike into Iran, in terms of what we are doing in Iraq," Burns told NPR. The Bush administration has repeatedly warned Iran against fueling violence in Iraq and U.S. forces there have detained a number of Iranian officials in raids since December. Iran, a majority Shi'ite country like Iraq, has demanded the release of the detained officials. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said last week the United States would present "in the coming days" evidence of the detained Iranians' involvement in violence. It has yet to make any evidence public. "We have picked up individuals who we believe are giving very sophisticated explosive technology to Shia insurgent groups, who then use that technology to target and kill American soldiers," Burns said. Burns was asked about Iranian involvement in a Jan. 20 attack on an Iraqi government compound in the southern city of Kerbala by guerrillas posing as Americans who killed five U.S. soldiers. He said the United States will "try to find those who are responsible and hold them accountable. But right now it's not possible to say exactly who those people were." In the interview, which was taped on Wednesday, Burns spoke about Iran's role in Iraq and skirted the debate about Iran's nuclear program -- the other main source of tensions in Iran-U.S. relations. "I don't believe that a military conflict with Iran is inevitable. I think that if we're patient and we're skillful, we can have a diplomatic solution to these problems. We are trying for that diplomatic solution," he said. Burns defended the boosting of the U.S. naval presence in the Gulf, saying the United States has "defended Gulf security for six decades." The Iranians "need to understand they can't come barging into a situation, and express what they want and seek a position of dominance, without some kind of reaction from the moderate Arab states and from the United States," Burns said. "We're trying to convince the Iranians that it's in their best interest to sit down and talk with the United States. That is the basis of American policy."
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