Can Straw Tread Softly While US Turns its Eye on Iran?

The Guardian:

When the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, met Condoleezza Rice in Washington this week, he did not ask whether the US had plans to use military force against Iran. And the new secretary of state did not offer to tell him. "The issue was not raised once by either side," Mr Straw said afterwards. "It was not on the table." ...

A senior European official based in London said yesterday: "It is clear that Straw wants to make plain to Blair that he will not support another adventure if he is still in government. But Blair is less prudent. If Blair is saying implicitly that we must keep all our options open, that will encourage the neo-con hardliners in Washington just like in Iraq.

"I'm not even sure the military option, or international sanctions, would be a deterrent. Everyone forgets that the [1981 Israeli] attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor did not prevent Saddam [Hussein] building a nuclear arsenal - it may strengthen the ayatollahs, not weaken them. They will say to Iranians, 'See, the west is threatening us.' It will provide them with a sort of glue." ...

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