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EU urged to engage with Iran before US elections

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Oct 20, IRNA -- Iran will top the US agenda after next 
month`s presidential elections and the European Union will lose out if
it does not seek to use its influence now, former UK Foreign Office 
Minister Tony Lloyd has warned "If the European Union can begin 
serious dialogue with the United States and places such as Moscow, 
and, most importantly, maintain its serious dialogue with Tehran, we 
could set out something like a road map," he suggested. 
Lloyd said that in handling Iran`s nuclear issue, Britain and the 
EU should learn recent lessons and have the sort of debate "that we 
failed to have in the case of Iraq." 
With regard to military action again being an option, he warned 
that although all things are possible. The "experience in Iraq 
should warn us of the enormous dangers." 
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on EU-Iran relations on 
Tuesday, the former minister proposed instead a kind of a road map 
should make it clear positive benefits to Iran and take into account 
that "Iran would look for security guarantees in its own region." 
"The United States would obviously have to play a fundamental 
role in implementing such guarantees, particularly given its 
extraordinary influence over Israel," he said. 
Lloyd, who briefly served as Foreign Office Minister for the 
Middle East in Prime Minister Tony Blair`s first government, said, 
Iran was "entitled to security in its own region." 
It was "also entitled to recognition and access in economic and 
social terms," he told MPs. "In that respect, there is a lesson for 
the Americans, because the EU has already offered the possibility of 
progress on such issues," he said. 
His proposal was made because he felt "no doubt" that Iran will 
move to the top of the political agenda after the US presidential 
elections, driven there by Washington`s preoccupation to deal with 
Iran`s nuclear issue. 
"Iran will be at the top of all our agendas within six months, 
almost irrespective of what happens in the American election. If 
Europeans do not begin to take Iran seriously now we will have lost 
influence by the time the debate begins in the US," Lloyd warned. 
He said the EU, the United States and, indeed, countries such as 
Russia, "must deal collectively with the nuclear situation in Iran." 
If there was to be a cohesive approach at global level, "the time to 
do so is now," he said. 
HC/1430/1412