Rice: Iran Biggest Threat to Middle East

The Bush administration is hoping that a rare one-two punch of U.S. diplomacy - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates - will add force to talks with Iraq's neighbors about the war and Iran's influence in the Mideast.

BBC News, Rice: Iran is 'Biggest Threat'

"We have the same goals in this region concerning security and stability," Rice said. "There isn't a doubt, I think, that Iran constitutes the single most important, single-country challenge to ... U.S. interests in the Middle East and to the kind of Middle East that we want to see."

Gates said key goals for the trip included reaffirming that the United States will continue to have a strong military presence in the region. Although a buildup in U.S. forces has raised the number of troops in Iraq to nearly 160,000, pressure is mounting in the U.S. for redeploying troops if the political and security situation there doesn't improve by fall.