Cheney says U.S. will deal with Iran

WASHINGTON – In bluntly threatening terms on inauguration day, Vice President Dick Cheney removed any doubt Thursday that in its second term the Bush administration intends to confront the theocracy in Iran directly.

Cheney, who often has delivered the Bush team’s toughest warnings internationally, said Iran is “right at the top” of the administration’s list of world trouble spots, and expressed concern that Israel “might well decide to act first” to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. The Israelis would let the rest of the world “worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward,” he added in an MSNBC interview.

“One of the concerns that people have is that Israel might do it without being asked,” Cheney said.

The tough talk on this day was part of the administration’s attempt to halt what Iran contends is a peaceful, civilian nuclear energy program but which Washington believes is a clandestine program to develop nuclear weapons.

Facing weak diplomatic and military options, the Bush administration has issued increasingly stern warnings in hopes that threats of sanctions and international isolation would convince Iran to shun nuclear weapons. President Bush and other top administration officials have spoken in menacing terms about Iran in recent days.

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