But Rice also emphasized nothing is imminent against Iraq and that the administration is carefully pursuing a "range of policy options." 

"We are not in a position where the president is trying to make an imminent decision about how to deal with Iraq. He has made very clear that the world has a problem with Iraq, and that the status quo is not acceptable," Rice said. 

"There's no doubt this is a very dangerous regime, and the president's going to reserve his options. This is a very patient president -- we've learned that about him. He speaks clearly, speaks plainly and acts patiently and prudently." 

Asked whether the options regarding Iraq included military strikes, Rice said, "We're not ruling out any options." 

In his State of the Union address two weeks ago, President Bush called Iraq "an axis of evil," along with North Korea and Iran. 

Rice said North Korea got on the president's list the "honest way," describing North Korea's leadership as a "secretive and repressive regime that is trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and therefore is a danger to peace and stability -- not to mention being the merchant for ballistic missile technology around the world." 

Rice did not mention Iran by name, but said "These are repressive, closed regimes that are trying aggressively to acquire weapons of mass destruction." 

The United States also has accused Iran of aiding al Qaeda fugitives escaping Afghanistan. Tehran has denied those allegations and on Thursday, Iran's news agency reported authorities had arrested 150 Arab, African and European nationals they suspect of being members of either the Taliban or al Qaeda. (Full story) 

Rice said Bush, in his upcoming trip to Asia, would address weapons proliferation issues with Chinese leaders. The United States has accused Chinese companies operating in Iraq of significantly beefing up Baghdad's air defenses in violation of United Nations rules. 

In particular, the United States has said U.S. intelligence last year detected Chinese companies helping with a fiber optic air defense system in Iraq. 

Last March, China vowed to adhere to U.N. rules. 

The administration has raised those concerns with Beijing previously and "we continue to discuss those issues," Rice said. 

"It's not something that we expect is going to be solved overnight, but it is a very serious issue for the United States," she said. 

Of Hussein's regime, she said, "The fact of the matter is that ever since [Bush] came into office, we have said that Iraq is a problem. It is a country that has flaunted its obligations that it undertook in 1991 in the armistice after the Gulf War. It has kicked out international inspectors. It has tried periodically, over the course of the last few years, to get weapons of mass destruction. It threatens its neighbors." 

She added, "The Iraqi people would be better off with a regime that they deserve rather than the regime that they have." 

Iraq has demanded U.N. sanctions against it be lifted before weapons inspectors return. But under U.N. guidelines following the 1991 Gulf War, one of the obligations Iraq must meet for sanctions to be lifted is a clean bill of health with regards to its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons program. 

U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq ahead of U.S. airstrikes in 1998, and have not been allowed back into the country since then. 

After Bush's State of the Union address, Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan called the American president "stupid" for calling Iraq an "axis of evil." 

"This statement of President Bush is stupid and a statement that does not befit the leader of the biggest state in the world," Ramadan said.