Blair Blasts Iraq Withdrawal Call

Guy Jackson, SundayTimes.za:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has dismissed an Iranian demand that his country's troops withdraw from Iraq as a tactic to try to divert attention from concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme. READ MORE

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called during a visit to Lebanon on Friday for British troops to be immediately pulled out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

After talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Blair said Iran should remember that British troops were now in Iraq under a United Nations (UN) mandate and with the support of the Iraqi government.

"What I would say to the Iranians is that there is no point in trying to divert attention from the issues to do with Iran by calling into question the British presence in Iraq which is there with a UN mandate and Iraqi support," Blair told a news conference.

"British troops are in Iraq today under a United Nations mandate and with the consent of the Iraqi government.

"They stay as long as the UN mandate is in place and the Iraq government wishes us to stay and we now have a fully democratically elected government about to take shape in Iraq."

Merkel said Germany, Britain and France had made a "big contribution" to negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme in recent years.

All agreed that the Islamic republic had now "crossed a red line" by resuming sensitive nuclear research, she said.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), this month referred Iran to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The IAEA is due to meet on March 6 to discuss the next steps.

Merkel said there was a "window" before that meeting which must be used to try to resolve the situation.

Blair said he hoped the Iranian crisis could be settled "through diplomatic means".