Blair: Syria, Iran Must Change For Improving Ties With UK

Dow Jones Newswires:

Britain wants good relations with Syria and Iran but can't improve ties until the two countries stop supporting terrorism and other violence, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday. "We have no desire whatever to act against people in Iran or people in Syria, but the governments in those two countries have to understand the only basis for friendly relations is they abide by their international obligations," Blair said at his monthly news conference. This meant an end to supporting terror.

"We want good relations with those two countries, but it's got to be on a basis of a common understanding of what's acceptable ... and what isn't," he said. "Iran is giving active support to terrorism round the Mideast and elsewhere, and there is a situation ... where there are very serious question marks about what has happened in Syria." READ MORE

Britain and its allies have cut off talks with Tehran since it announced that it was restarting its disputed nuclear program.

London has also joined international calls for Syria to better cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.