No explicit or implicit military threat against Iran, says Blair
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Nov 2, IRNA
UK Blair-Iran
Prim Minister Tony Blair Wednesday played down his earlier warning to Iran, saying that he was making neither an explicit nor implicit military threat.
"I did not talk either explicitly or implicitly about a military threat to Iran," the prime minister said in response to one of his own backbench MPs seeking reassurance that the UK was not planning an attack.
During Prime Minister's Questions in parliament, Labor MP Ken Purchase said he was concerned that Blair had hinted military action when saying that people were going to ask 'when you are going to do something' against Iran after an EU summit in London last week.
"Nobody is talking about military threats or invasion of Iran or any of the rest of it," the prime minister repeated in reply.
But he insisted that what was being said is in the wake of disputes about nuclear weapons and remarks about Israel's right to exist that 'the international community will not put up with their continuing breach of the proper and normal standards of behavior'.
"As I made clear at the press conference this is something we want to discuss with our other allies and other members of the Security Council," Blair added.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary John Reid also clarified that British troops in southern Iraq were not authorized to cross the border into Iran.
Reid's confirmation came after calls to clarify comments made earlier by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, suggesting that any decision to enter Iran was up to British commanders on the ground in Iraq.
HC/2322/1412
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