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A "mistake" for Israel to attack Iran, warns Solana

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Feb 7, IRNA -- A military strike against Iran`s nuclear 
facilities by Israel would be a "mistake," the European Union`s 
foreign policy chief Javier Solana has warned. 
"That will complicate enormously the situation. Unilateral action 
of that nature I don`t think will contribute to what is the aim of 
everybody," Solana said. 
"I don`t think at this point in time that it is worth thinking 
about that," he said. 
His warning, expressed during an interview on Britain`s ITV 
network Sunday, came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
for the second time refused to say whether Washington would deter an 
attempted Israeli strike on Iran`s nuclear facilities. 
Last month US Vice-President Dick Cheney suggested that Israel 
"might well decide to act first" in launching an attack on Iran, but 
Rice would not comment on what advice she would give to Ariel Sharon 
when she meets him. 
"I`m not going to speculate," she told BBC`s Breakfast with Frost 
on Sunday. Instead, she put the onus on Tehran to prevent any strike, 
saying "the Iranians need to live up to their international 
obligations so we don`t face any such point." 
But Cheney, when questioned about Cheney`s warning, said that it 
would "be something I would not like to see taking place. That would 
be a mistake." 
Asked if he agreed with UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that a US 
military action against Iran was "inconceivable," he said he believed 
that military action was "very difficult to conceive." 
"I don`t think that the United States has at this point of time 
the wish or the will or the capability to do that," said the EU`s 
high representative. 
At a joint press conference in London Friday, Straw, like Rice, 
refused to say whether he would deter or encourage an Israeli attack 
on Iran. 
The British foreign secretary also went further in putting the 
onus on Iran, suggesting that Tehran also needs to change its 
position in not recognizing Israel. 
"It cannot go on, if it (Iran) wishes to be a full member of the 
international community. Denying the right of one member of the 
United Nations to exist is a fundamental destabilizing aspect of the 
Middle East situation," Straw told journalists. 
HC/2321/1432