Clinton warns of Mideast nuclear arms race

(AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of Saudi college women on Tuesday that it is the shared responsibility of Iran's neighbors to ensure it does not get nuclear weapons.

Her blunt message about avoiding a nuclear arms race that Saudi Arabia might join was meant for a wider audience but its delivery by one of the West's best-known professional women made a more subtle point.

Clinton ticked off a list of Iranian actions that she said violated its obligation not to pursue nuclear weapons, including construction of the Qom enrichment facility that came to light last fall.

"You have to ask yourself, 'Why are they doing this?'" Clinton said.

Noting that Iran insists it is not pursuing the bomb, she said, "The evidence doesn't support that."

"Everyone who I speak with in the Gulf, including the leaders here and leaders elsewhere in the region, are expressing deep concern about Iran's intentions," she said.

The approximately 500 students at an all-woman college in Jeddah called Dar al-Hekma, which translates in English to "House of Wisdom, were all dressed in long black abayas. Some wore blue jeans underneath. Several dozen men also attended the address by invitation.

Clinton warned of unintended consequences if Iran's behavior sets off a nuclear arms race.

"Then you have all kinds of opportunity for problems that can be quite dangerous," she said.

She was finishing a diplomatic visit to U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. She had strong warnings for neighboring Iran that the world won't accept a duplicitous attempt to develop nuclear weapons, and she said Iran is sliding into a military dictatorship. That was a new assessment for the Obama administration, which took office with a much softer tone toward Iran and a pledge to try to draw Tehran into productive talks.

Clinton's appearance at the college was highly unusual in a conservative Muslim nation.

The students cheered heartily when Clinton entered the auditorium, even though she had kept them waiting for more than an hour. Some got up to leave during the long wait, which prompted a school official to take a microphone and plead for all to remain, saying this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see in person "the most powerful, most popular" woman in the world. Most stayed.

One student greeted Clinton with a poem for the occasion.

"I speak for the women who are empowered in their nation to tell you that you have been a source of inspiration," the young woman said in English.

"The simple fact that you are here, body and soul, today shows that your support stretches from thousands of miles away."

Clinton's departure from Saudi Arabia was delayed for hours by mechanical trouble with her government jet. Clinton planned to catch a ride to Washington aboard another jet carrying Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East as commander of U.S. Central Command. Petraeus was nearby, in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

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AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report from Washington.