Sec. Hillary Clinton Discusses Iran, Iraq and the Middle East Peace Process During an Interview on Alhurra Television

April 25, 2009 | Washington, DC.« Back to Press Releases

During an interview with Alhurra Television, the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, discussed the Iranian cooperation to help stabilize Afghanistan, stability in Iraq, the Middle East peace process and the significance of the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections. The following is a transcript of her interview:

After this long and interesting day in Baghdad, do you feel that you will be able to fully apply the (SOFA) agreement before the end of 2011, if the security situation remains the same as it is now?
We intend to comply with the Status of Forces Agreement that was entered into between the United States and Iraq and endorsed by the Iraqi parliament, because we believe that there have been significant advances in security. Now, there continue to be, in the last few days, tragically, some suicide bombings that have taken many lives, but we don’t see that affecting the general trend. These are clearly intended to try to inflame certain segments of the population against others, or to provoke a reaction that would then cause a chain reaction. And I was very impressed by the calm, united and firm response of both the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people.

On Iran, Madame Secretary, what’s the next step with Iran after the U.S./Iran meeting in The Hague last month?
Well that meeting in The Hague was about Afghanistan and we think that is an area where we can cooperate again with Iran, which we did at the very beginning of our time in Afghanistan. And on Afghanistan, Iran has been quite helpful. It attended the Tokyo Donors Conference and actually made a pledge to try to help stabilize Afghanistan. So that is one of the tracks that we are pursuing with Iran. There are many other issues; you know we are just at the beginning to determine whether Iran wishes to have an engagement with us. Our goal remains to persuade, dissuade or prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But we think there are ways we think we can discuss these and other matters with Iran.

You have talked this week about very tough sanctions against Iran if the U.S.'s approach to Iran fails. Ayatollah Ali Rafsanjani responded to your remarks yesterday by saying if the Obama Administration really wants to engage Iran over its nuclear issue, we advise it to stop threatening the country with harsh sanctions. What is your comment on that?
We don't have a formal response yet from Iran to anything we have offered to discuss. So I don't want to respond to one comment or another. We are waiting for an official response and then we'll determine how we will respond to that.

President Obama has invited President Abbas, President Mubarak and the Israeli Prime Minister to visit Washington soon, what do you expect from these coming visits?
President Obama is very committed to the two-state solution and to being actively engaged in bringing the Israelis and the Palestinians together in an effort that will hopefully do more to provide the security that Israel is looking for, and the recognition and statehood that the Palestinians are looking for. So, these meetings are the initial efforts that the President, I and others will be making to follow up on Senator Mitchell's visits to the region, which have been in-depth conversations about every possible approach that could be taken.

After this visit by Sen. Mitchell, do you feel he is able to make any progress in the region?
Well, we are very patient about this. I know that the region is very impatient, because it has been eight years without any real progress, after having had a lot of hope in the prior eight years. Sen. Mitchell has been listening very carefully, because this has to be a broad and comprehensive engagement. It is not just between Israel and the Palestinians, but between Israel, the Palestinians and the region. And I think that once we have our face to face meetings with the three leaders, we will be able to announce our approach and how we intend to pursue it.

On Lebanon Madam Secretary, what do expect from the Lebanese people or from the upcoming parliamentary elections?
Well, obviously we hope that there is a fair and free election that every eligible Lebanese voter participates in. This is a critical election. We think that the Lebanese people have been through so much in the last years. And we would like to see a peaceful, secure Lebanon, with people able to live with different communities, all in allegiance to the Lebanese state and not to any outside power or influence, so that Lebanon could again realize its potential. The Lebanese people are hard working, intelligent and great representatives of a multi-confessional society, but there has to be a government that the people of Lebanon could trust and respect and the people have to determine that they don’t want to go off on any extremist or other path, and instead they stay focused on what it is in the best interest long term of Lebanon.

Last question Madame Secretary, on Syria, a U.S. diplomatic security official has visited Syria this week. What was the purpose of this visit? And are you considering sending a new Ambassador to Damascus?
We are looking at a range of issues with the Syrians. No decisions have been made, because we just begun that conversation. I sent two of our diplomats to Syria about six weeks ago. We've had members of Congress going to Syria. Syrians have reached out to Iraq and other neighbors, but this is a very preliminary conversation. We are heartened by the exchange of Ambassadors between Lebanon and Syria. And we hope that Syria will play a constructive role in supporting democracy in Lebanon, but we haven't made any further decisions.

According to international research firms such as ACNielsen, Alhurra has a weekly reach of 26 million people. Alhurra is operated by The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., a non-profit corporation funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The BBG is a federal agency that supervises all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting. For more information about Alhurra go to www.alhurra.com.

Contact:
Deirdre Kline
Director of Communications
Middle East Broadcasting Networks
703-852-9250