Blair: "We Don't Rule Out Any Measures At All" Against Iran
Blair: 'We don't rule out any measures at all' against Iran
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/669075.html
By News Agencies
1/11/2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday he aimed to get international agreement to refer Iran to the UN Security Council after it restarted research into nuclear fuel this week.
"I think the first thing to do is to secure agreement for a reference to the Security Council, that is indeed what the allies jointly decide as I think seems likely," Blair told parliament.
"Then .. we have to decide what measures to take and we obviously don't rule out any measures at all," he added.
Blair said Iran's decision to resume nuclear activities caused "real and serious" alarm across the world.
"The decision by Iran is very serious indeed," Blair said. "I do not think there is any point in people, or us, hiding our deep dismay at what Iran has decided to do."
Iran removed UN seals at uranium enrichment research facilities on Tuesday and announced it would resume "research and development" on producing uranium fuel, prompting angry reactions from Washington, the European Union and Russia, as well as Britain.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain will meet in Berlin on Thursday to discuss the crisis caused by Iran's move to reactivate a nuclear fuel program mothballed under a November 2004 deal with the EU trio.
Also on Wednesday, German deputy foreign minister Gernot Erler said the European Union cannot continue negotiating with Iran on its nuclear program unless it pledges not to enrich uranium.
However, Erler cautioned on Deutschlandfunk radio against referring the dispute to the UN Security Council, saying it could further destabilize the Middle East.
"I don't know what the three foreign ministers will decide [at Thursday's meeting], but I believe they cannot continue to negotiate without an Iranian assurance that there will be no concrete enrichment activity," Erler said.
He cautioned that referring the matter to the Security Council would likely lead to the "threat of sanctions, and that can lead to an escalation that can get out of control."
"That is the risk, and that is how it was with the preparation for and the road to the Iraq war," said Erler. "That would be in no way reassuring given the other problems we currently have in the greater Middle East."
