Blair: No plans to attack Iran
The UK has no plans to attack Iran, the prime minister affirmed today.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Tony Blair said that he was confident that political and diplomatic resolutions remained a “viable and sensible option” for dealing with Iran.
Tehran has shown no signs of meeting yesterday’s UN deadline to cease nuclear enrichment, prompting speculation as to how the international community will respond.
This morning, Mr Blair said that: “Nobody is preparing for military action and nobody wants military action”, adding that he does not think it would be right to do so. He claimed that these views were shared by Washington.
He added: “I think what is important is to pursue the political and the diplomatic channel. I think it is the only sensible way that we are going to get a solution to the Iranian issue.
“I personally think that you will never have a situation where you can say that there are no set of circumstances in which you could ever conceive of anything different to that.”
Tony Blair also refused to apologise for Iraq, arguing that Britain did not cause terrorism in the region and should not be blamed for the current violence. He claimed that insurgent attacks are concentrated on Baghdad and designed to frustrate the democratically elected government.
He said: “Although the situation is terrible, especially around Baghdad . I think we should be proud of the work we are doing to help Iraq get on its feet and be the country that its people want it to be.”
Mr Blair continued: “We did not create al-Qaeda or the Sunni insurgency and neither are we responsible for the small groups of Shia militia who visit this appalling sectarian violence on Sunnis.”
The prime minister must accept the consequences of his actions, the Liberal Democrats responded today. Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that Mr Blair’s failure to do so was more important than his refusal to apologise.
Sir Menzies said: “Military action against Iraq has practically brought the country to its knees and destabilised the region. Mr Blair’s evangelism has served neither Iraq nor British interests.”
The prime minister continues to face criticism over his handling of the invasion. This morning the former Conservative home secretary Lord Hurd renewed calls for an independent inquiry into Iraq.
It would not be a “vindictive inquiry” but should focus on the decision making and “lack of preparation” prior to the invasion, Lord Hurd told Radio 4’s Today.
“Something went wrong at the heart of our decision-taking in this country. We’ve all guessed what that was; we need to know. Not vindictively, not as a sort of trial of Tony Blair, but in order to make sure that this can’t happen again,” he said.
