'Echoes of Iraq'
Paul was speaking as Rice presented the US state department's annual budget request to the congressional foreign affairs committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.
"This sounds like
Paul referred to discredited allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime was building weapons of mass destruction.
US officials have promised to make public what Sean McCormack, a state department spokesman, described as a "mountain of evidence" to back up allegations about Iranian involvement in attacks on US and allied forces in
No such evidence has yet been put forward by the administration.
'No Iran attack plan'
Rejecting Paul's suggestions, Rice said: "We are not planning or intending an attack on
Rice also said that Iranian support for "terrorism" was "well known and well-understood", referring to Hezbollah in
She said British forces in
'No hurry'
"I don't think any government in the world would stand by and not react to that," she said.
McCormack rejected suggestions the administration had yet to reveal its proof of Iranian involvement in
"We're going to do this on our own timeline," he said.
"There are always going to be doubters, critics, sceptics … That's fine, we accept that."
"It's not going to influence us into hurrying through something that we don't think is ready or appropriate."