Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld pushed Saturday for unity in the fight against terrorism, telling a meeting of the world’s top security officials that “a war has been declared on all of our nations and on our people.”

Rumsfeld pushed U.S. allies to increase military spending to defeat the threat of a “global extremist empire” he said terrorists hoped to create.

“The Cold War wasn’t won through fate or good luck – freedom prevailed because our free nations showed resolve when retreat would have been easier, showed courage when concession seemed simpler and more attractive,” Rumsfeld said.

Speaking before the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, Rumsfeld accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism. But he told the conference America stood “with the Iranian people, the women, the young people, who want a peaceful, democratic future.”

“The Iranian regime is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” he said. “The world does not want, and must work together to avoid, a nuclear Iran.”