U.S. warns Iran to back down

by DIG THE HEAVY | January 23, 2007 at 09:16 am

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By JIM KRANE
Associated Press Writer

© 2007 The Associated Press - DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A second U.S. aircraft carrier strike
group now steaming toward the Middle East is Washington's way of
warning Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region, a top
U.S. diplomat said here Tuesday. Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of
state for political affairs, ruled out direct negotiations with Iran
and said a rapprochement between Washington and Tehran was "not
possible" until Iran halts uranium enrichment.............

"The Middle East isn't a region to be dominated by Iran. The Gulf isn't a body of water to be controlled by Iran. That's why we've seen the United States station two carrier battle groups in the region," Burns said in an address to the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, an influential think-tank.