In an interview with the Financial Times yesterday, Jack Straw has strongly defended European attempts to persuade Iran to dismantle its nuclear programme.
Referring to recent claims by the American journalist Seymour Hersh, published in the New Yorker magazine, Mr Straw dismissed reports that the US may be contemplating military action against Tehran.
Ridiculing suggestions in the US that the Pentagon was covertly drawing up plans for strikes against targets in Iran, British Foreign Secretary said, "You will always find somebody in Washington thinking about something. That's how things are there," said Mr Straw.
However he acknowledged that some US officials were sceptical about the diplomatic moves by Britain, France and Germany to approach the Iranians, but he defended the European approach.
Straw went on to say, "Those who said we'd be split apart by the Iranians are wrong.
He added, "Those who said we would not be able to negotiate any substantial text [with the Iranians] are wrong. Those who said we could not build up a degree of trust with the Iranians - at the same time as building up a strong consensus with the US and the non-aligned countries - are wrong. It's taken a phenomenal amount of work, but so far so good. And its a better strategy than the alternative."
Mr Straw is expected to hold his first official meeting with the nominated US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, next week in Washington.
|
