News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Bush administration's proposed multi-billion dollar arms deal with Gulf States and Israel is a message to Syria and Iran "who are seeking to expand their influence at the expense of forces of moderation in the region," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Monday.

Answering a question if the deal would antagonize Iran even further, Casey answered, "I think it's pretty clear to us that the Iranian President doesn't particularly care about what anyone thinks, and certainly doesn't care what his own people think, because if he cared about what his own people think, he'd actually be trying to engage the international community."