British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman confirmed Thursday that there is a wide gap between the UK and the US over its policy towards Tehran.
There is a vast difference between the behaviour of Iran and Iraq, the spokesman said in answering why Blair was ready to join military action against one of President Bush's "axis of evil," while at the same time meet Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi. He told journalists that Iran had not been pursuing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and had not defied any UN resolution.
His comments followed Blair's meeting with Kharrazi that focused on the impending US-led war against Iraq and on
other bilateral issues. According to IRNA, the talks were seen as a signal that the British premier was ready to differ with the US.
Answering questions at the Royal Institute of International Affairs Wednesday, the Iranian minister underlined that his government was firmly against unilateral military action against Iraq.
"We believe that it is the responsibility of the Security Council to deal with Iraq and other matters. We are basically against war and would not support either side," Kharrazi said. He warned that the use of military action "may lead to a clash of civilisations" and that this was the "suspicions" in the Islamic world that this was the "real intention of the war." (Albawaba.com)
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