British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Photo: AFP
Blair says nobody talking about attack on Iran
British Prime Minister rejects reports that US, Britain are planning attack on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, but Tehran's defiance is causing alarm
No-one is planning an attack on Iran but Tehran's strategy is causing increasing alarm, Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday.
Blair accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons capability in defiance of the United Nations and of deliberately fostering sectarianism and conflict in its region.
Iran
Associated Press
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But he also held out an olive branch to Iran by saying "a whole series of doors" would open for Tehran if it changed its strategy.
'All options on table'
"Nobody is talking about military intervention in respect of Iran, but people are increasingly alarmed and concerned at the strategy they appear to be pursuing," Blair told a parliamentary committee."Nobody is talking or planning military intervention and that's not what the international community wants, it's not what we want. But it's important Iran understands that at the moment it is doing two groups of things that are really unsettling the international community," he said.
Blair, however, quoted US President George W. Bush's much-used phrase that "you can't take any option off the table".
Iran says its nuclear enrichment programme is aimed solely at electricity generation. Washington also accuses Tehran of funding and training militants fighting US forces in Iraq.
