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UK DOESN'T RULE OUT MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST IRAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
January 16, 2012 - 09:47 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - UK foreign secretary insisted all options were
on the table over Tehran's "increasingly dangerous" development of
atomic weapons. But he said Britain's preferred route was to step up
sanctions rather than use force in a bid to bring the Islamic republic
to the negotiating table.
"We have never ruled anything out," William Hague said. "But we
are clearly not calling for or advocating military action. We are
advocating meaningful negotiations, if Iran will enter into them, and
the increasing pressure of sanctions to try to get some flexibility
from Iran."
Mr Hague warned of being "starry-eyed" about embargoes. "Sanctions
policies do not always succeed," he added. "But this is the best means
we have of increasing the pressure," Metro.co.uk quoted him as saying.
European officials have worked for several months on banning the
purchase of Iranian oil, and are expected to agree to the measures
at a meeting of foreign ministers on Jan 23.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the new sanctions would
help to choke off funding to Iran's nuclear program. Westerwelle also
dismissed discussion of possible military action if Iran continue to
defy international demands to halt its weapons work.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said new European sanctions
could also target its Central Bank.
Tensions with the West have increased following last week's
assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, recent missile tests and
an attack on Britain's embassy in Tehran in November, The Washington
Post reported.
PanARMENIAN.Net
January 16, 2012 - 09:47 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - UK foreign secretary insisted all options were
on the table over Tehran's "increasingly dangerous" development of
atomic weapons. But he said Britain's preferred route was to step up
sanctions rather than use force in a bid to bring the Islamic republic
to the negotiating table.
"We have never ruled anything out," William Hague said. "But we
are clearly not calling for or advocating military action. We are
advocating meaningful negotiations, if Iran will enter into them, and
the increasing pressure of sanctions to try to get some flexibility
from Iran."
Mr Hague warned of being "starry-eyed" about embargoes. "Sanctions
policies do not always succeed," he added. "But this is the best means
we have of increasing the pressure," Metro.co.uk quoted him as saying.
European officials have worked for several months on banning the
purchase of Iranian oil, and are expected to agree to the measures
at a meeting of foreign ministers on Jan 23.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the new sanctions would
help to choke off funding to Iran's nuclear program. Westerwelle also
dismissed discussion of possible military action if Iran continue to
defy international demands to halt its weapons work.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said new European sanctions
could also target its Central Bank.
Tensions with the West have increased following last week's
assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, recent missile tests and
an attack on Britain's embassy in Tehran in November, The Washington
Post reported.