 Rusk did not press on this information on Johnson, saying to take part in the planned talks in Burma would have signaled "the acceptance or the confirmation of aggression".In October, the peace initiative was ended by Khrushchev being ousted and his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, was not interestd in U Thant's plan.On 23 December 1964, Nasser decided to up the ante in his relations with the United States by delivering a violently anti-American speech in Port Said in which called Iran "an American and Zionist colony" and claimed Johnson wanted to reduce Egypt down to the status of Iran.