"Iran should be on notice: Efforts to try to remake Iraq in Iran's image will be aggressively put down," he said.
Bush administration officials last week accused Iran, a member of what President Bush has called the "axis of evil," of harboring al-Qaeda members, and have said Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration has decided not to deal formally with Iran in the hope that this will encourage Iranians to pressure their government to change its policies or even overthrow it.
The two sides severed relations after the overthrow of the Iranian shah in 1979 and the subsequent seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Islamists.
"To the extent we got into a close diplomatic relationship we might find we are being discouraging to the people of that country because we'd be giving the [government] credence," Rumsfeld said.
He recalled how quickly a popular revolution unseated the shah and speculated the same thing could happen again.
"Maybe we'll be favorably surprised," he said.
During and after the war in Iraq, the United States directed similar strong statements toward Syria. Those remarks, Washington said, succeeded in stemming a tide of weapons and military equipment across the Iraq-Syria border, and several individuals sought by the United States were denied entry to Syria.
Rumsfeld also spoke of the U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
He told the council 39 countries were helping inside Iraq's border and said the United States welcomed U.N. and foreign assistance in the Arab state's rebuilding as it did not intend to become Iraq's bank account for that work.
"The United States should not be considered the first and only donor of funds," he said. "When funds are needed, the coalition will turn first to the Iraqi regime funds in Iraq. We'll rely on seized frozen Iraqi assets in the U.S. and other countries, and international donors."
Rumsfeld is still prickly about what he believes were inaccurate reports about looting in Baghdad, and the criticism the Pentagon has received for not establishing law and order in Iraq.
He said he talked to someone who had visited the National Museum in Baghdad three weeks before the war and it was largely empty, as the curators had moved art and artifacts to safe vaults.
"The feeling is the looting took place after much of the materials had already been moved," Rumsfeld said.
As for security on the streets, he said nearly 100,000 criminals had been released from Baghdad jails in the days leading up to and during the war, an exodus of prisoners that makes maintaining security difficult. U.S. troops now have the authority to arrest and detain alleged criminals and looters up to 21 days, U.S. Central Command says.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
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