Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged reluctant Arab nations on Friday to threaten to isolate Iran unless it bows to international pressure to curb its nuclear weapons program. Her appeal to Iran's neighbors came before she visits Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE next week to lobby them to join a U.S. campaign against Iran's nuclear program.
"I would hope that those states that are worried about this ... are prepared to really say to the Iranians: 'You are going to be isolated from us too if you continue down this road,'" Rice said in an interview with Arab-based media about her planned talks on the trip.
Skepticism of U.S. plans are running high in the region, and Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation has called Rice's appeal "a hard sell." "It's worth a try but we should be under no illusion just how difficult it will be to get Arab nations to isolate Iran," he said.
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