Cheney: `We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon'

Cheney: `We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon'

LEESBURG, Virginia (AP): The United States and other nations will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday.
``Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions,'' Cheney said in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.
He said Iran's efforts to pursue technology that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon are obvious and that ``the regime continues to practice delay and deceit in an obvious effort to buy time.''
If Iran continues on its current course, Cheney said the U.S. and other nations are ``prepared to impose serious consequences.'' The vice president made no specific reference to military action.
``We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,'' he said.
Cheney's words seemed to only escalate the U.S. rhetoric against Iran over the past several days, including President George W. Bush's warning that a nuclear Iran could lead to ``World War III.''
Cheney said the ultimate goal of the Iranian leadership is to establish itself as the hegemonic force in the Middle East and undermine a free Shia-majority Iraq as a rival for influence in the Muslim world.
Iran's government seeks ``to keep Iraq in a state of weakness to ensure Baghdad does not pose a threat to Tehran,'' Cheney said.
While he was critical of the Iranian government and President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, he offered praise and words of solidarity to the Iranian people. Iran ``is a place of unlimited potential ... and it has the right to be free of tyranny,'' Cheney said.