Blair Backs Referring Iran to U.N.

CNN.com:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he would support Iran being referred to the U.N. Security Council if Tehran breached its nuclear obligations.

"We certainly will support referral to the U.N. Security Council if Iran breaches its undertaking and obligations," Blair said Thursday at his first news conference since his Labour Party won a historic third term in last week's elections. READ MORE

Iran has said it would resume some uranium reprocessing activities that Washington and the European Union fear could be used to make a nuclear weapon.

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog expects Iran to deliver a letter as early as Thursday announcing it will resume such activities, a Western diplomat told Reuters.

Meanwhile, France, Britain and Germany have warned Iran they will break off talks and join Washington in seeking U.N. action if Tehran makes good on its threats to resume the activities, diplomats said.

In a letter to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany warned that resuming potentially arms-related nuclear work "would bring the negotiating process to an end," an EU diplomat quoted the letter as saying.

Blair said Britain was committed to the diplomatic process.

"Nobody is talking about invasions of Iran or military action against Iran. We have to make sure that this diplomatic process works, and we will fight very hard to do that," he said.

"There is no point in speculating what happens down the line if you reach an impasse. But there is a lot of processes that have to be gone through before you are at that point, not least the Security Council."

Hosting his monthly press conference in Downing Street, Blair also faced questions about how long he intends to remain in office. ...