Clinton compares Iran showdown to Cuban missile crisis
Feb 25 03:17 PM US/Eastern


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies during a hearing before the...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday compared the showdown with Iran over its nuclear program to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Clinton told lawmakers that "we are engaged in very intensive diplomacy," saying it is similar to what president John F. Kennedy did when he forced the Soviet Union to withdraw missiles it had deployed in Cuba, near US shores.

"My reading of what happened with President Kennedy is that it's exactly what he did. It was high-stakes diplomacy," the chief US diplomat told the House Appropriations subcommittee.

"It was pushing hard to get the world community to understand, going to the UN, making a presentation, getting international opinion against the placement of Russian weapons in Cuba, making a deal eventually with the Russians that led to the removal of the weapons," she said.

"That is the kind of high-stakes diplomacy that I'm engaged in, that other members of this administration are, because we take very seriously the potential threat from Iran," Clinton said.

The United States is working with Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to try to halt Iran's uranium enrichment program, but is finding resistance from China to a fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions.

The Western powers fear that the enrichment program masks a drive for nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying it is for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.


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