`No' policy to attack Iran, says new UK Defence Secretary
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, May 19, IRNA
UK Policy-Iran
Britain's new Defence Secretary John Reid has reiterated that the British government still sees "no circumstances in which military action would be justified" again Iran over its nuclear programme.
"Such action would form no part of Government policy," Reid said Wednesday after coming under pressure from opposition parties and backbench MP to clarify Labour's position at the start of its record third term in office following this month's general election.
"We will continue our effort to obtain guarantees that Iran's nuclear programme is explicitly for peaceful purposes. We have to continue that. We are committed to trying to make the E3 process a success," he told parliament.
The new Defence Secretary was responding to questions raised in a debate on Foreign Affairs and Defence aspects of the government's programme set out in the Queen's Speech for the forthcoming 2005/06 parliamentary year.
"I hope that I have done justice to most of the points that have been raised-admittedly, at length. I thought that as the new Secretary of State for Defence I should reply as fully as possible in this first debate attempt from the Dispatch Box," he said.
In the absence of the Foreign Secretary, who was visiting the US, Reid repeated what Jack Straw previously told parliament when he made clear in talking about Iran last November that he can envisage "no circumstances in which military action would be justified." He was questioned by the Conservatives' new Shadow Foreign Secretary Liam Fox whether there were "parallels between Iraq and Iran?"
"There is widespread public anxiety that the decision to undertake military action in Iraq was taken long before we in the House of Commons voted for it. So what is the Government's plan of action for Iran?" Fox asked.
"If the Security Council comes next, what sanctions do we envisage and in what time scale? Transparency on the issue from the outset is vital if we are to maintain public confidence. Trust will be harder to come by second time around," he warned.
Anti-war Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn further warned that the neo-con proposals (in the US) appear to be to continue with heavy threats against Iran and possibly to move against Syria in future." "I hope that there is no such plan to engage in further military adventures in the region. Instead, apart from withdrawal from Iraq, we should turn our attention to a solution to the problem in Palestine," Corbyn suggested.
He said that the current government's approach to Iran, which involves EU negotiations led by the UK, France and Germany, "is welcome and helpful, and I hope that it continues."
"It would be helpful in persuading Iran not to develop nuclear weapons if the non-proliferation treaty conference re-adhered to the 2000 declaration and Britain and the United States in particular said that they would not develop a new generation of nuclear weapons," the backbench MP advised.
The Liberal Democrat's Shadow Foreign Secretary Menzies Campbell also asked "how can the United Kingdom insist on respect for the nuclear non-proliferation treaty by Iran, or respect for human rights in China, if we appear to have abandoned the very rule of law on which those calls are based?"
Campbell believed the EU and US had "legitimate anxieties about Iran's use of its civil nuclear programme to conceal a nuclear weapons programme.
"At the heart of that is Iran's entitlement under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to enrich uranium for civilian purposes," he said in supporting the government for Iran to uphold its suspension commitments under last year's Paris agreement.
But Campbell said it was also necessary to consider other methods.
The "credible prospect of economic sanctions," he suggested should be "combined with incentives on trade and technical matters, together with the offer of security assurances" to reach a deal.
With regard to Washington considering a military alternative, or using Israel to "act as some kind of surrogate," he warned that "plenty of evidence to suggest that any attack could prove counter- productive."
"There is, leading to Iranian withdrawal from the NPT and strengthening domestic support, born out of a sense of national identity, for the acquisition of nuclear weapons," the Lib Dem Shadow Foreign Secretary warned MPs.
His party's junior spokesman on foreign affairs, Michael Moore said it was "a serious time for us, with concerns about the existence of nuclear weapons in India, Pakistan, Israel and elsewhere." "We hope that all the existing nuclear powers will take the opportunity to lower the tension about the need for nuclear weapons, as some countries see it, and ensure that we make strong strides towards global disarmament," Moore suggested.
HC/1420
::IRNA No.041 19/05/2005 17:13 --End
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