Clinton
said Washington is increasingly concerned about the rise of military power in
Iran, the main US adversary in the Middle East.
In an
interview for broadcast Sunday on ABC's “This Week,” Clinton said many Iranians
are also worried and she hopes they find a way to head off the military drift.
Clinton
said she has “grave disagreements” with the Iranian revolution.
“But the
early advocates of it said this would be a republic. It would be an Islamic
republic, but it would be a republic. Then we saw a very flawed election and
we've seen the elected officials turn for the military to enforce their power,”
she said.
She said
that many Iranians, even those who were originally sympathetic to the
revolution are starting to have serious second thoughts about the direction
their government has taken.
Without
elaborating she said, “I can only hope that there will be some effort inside
Iran, by responsible civil and religious leaders, to take hold of the apparatus
of the state.” On the question of Iran's controversial nuclear ambitions,
Clinton said no meetings with Iranian officials were planned but that she would
be discussing the matter next week when leaders from around the world gather in
New York for the UN General Assembly.
Clinton
also expressed «great relief» for the release of Sarah Shourd, one of the three
American hikers held for more than a year in an Iranian prison.
Shourd
arrived in the United States on Sunday, but the other two _ her fiance, Shane
Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal — remain jailed in Tehran.
“I just
can't even imagine how painful the experience that they themselves have had
inside prison,” Clinton said.
Clinton,
who has met with the mothers of the hikers, said she hoped to see Bauer and
Fattal released as well.
The three
were detained by Iranian security forces in July 2009 near the Iraqi border and
accused of being American spies.
