In magazine article, Giuliani details his policy on Iran

New York Times: Laying out his views on foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would be open to negotiations with Iran but would not rule out destroying its nuclear facilities as a last resort. The New York Times

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: August 15, 2007

Laying out his views on foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would be open to negotiations with Iran but would not rule out destroying its nuclear facilities as a last resort.

The Bush administration and other Republican candidates have not ruled out such military action against Iran if it flexes its nuclear muscle further and if there is evidence that it is colluding with Iraqis in the killing of Americans.

But in describing his foreign policy views, in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr. Giuliani was characteristically blunt.

“The theocrats ruling Iran need to understand that we can wield the stick as well as the carrot, by undermining popular support for their regime, damaging the Iranian economy, weakening Iran’s military, and, should all else fail, destroying its nuclear infrastructure,” he wrote.

Mr. Giuliani’s article was published after President Bush made pointed comments about Iran last week at a news conference, saying, “There will be consequences” for Iranians who help Iraqis kill Americans.

“When we catch you playing a nonconstructive role” in Iraq, Mr. Bush said, “there will be a price to pay.” He called Iran a “very troubling nation right now.”

According to news accounts, there was an “intense internal debate” in the White House over how to respond to Iran’s support for Shiites in Iraq and to its nuclear program. They said Vice President Dick Cheney had been arguing for military action if clear evidence of Iranian activity against Americans emerged.

In a debate this year, Mr. Giuliani and another top Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said they had not ruled out using “tactical” nuclear weapons against Iran to keep it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The leading Democratic presidential candidates, especially Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, have clashed repeatedly with each other in debates over their experience and judgment in the conducting of foreign policy, including how to deal with nations like Iran.

Mr. Obama has said that as part of a new strategy for dealing with what United States officials consider rogue nations, he — unlike the Bush administration — would meet with their leaders, including the leader of Iran.

Mrs. Clinton was more cautious, saying she would first make sure that she was not being used for propaganda purposes.