Friday 29th of March 2024

"aussie tony" & the value of timing .....

"aussie tony" & the value of timing .....

 

‘Tony Blair has declared himself at odds with hawks in the US Administration by saying publicly for the first time that it would be wrong to take military action against Iran. The Prime Minister’s comments came hours before the UN’s nuclear watchdog raised the stakes in the West’s showdown with Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that Iran had expanded its nuclear programme, defying UN demands for it to be suspended. Hundreds of uranium-spinning centrifuges in an underground hall are expected to be increased to thousands by May when Iran moves to “industrial-scale production”. Senior British government sources have told The Times that they fear President Bush will seek to “settle the Iranian question through military means” next year, before the end of his second term if he concludes that diplomacy has failed. “He will not want to leave it unresolved for his successor,” said one.

But there are deep fissures within the US Administration. Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, who has previously called for direct talks with Tehran, is said to be totally opposed to military action.'

Fears Grow Over Iran

tit for tat .....

“Aussie Tony” has been embarrassed by the cool US response to his offer to host missiles from the planned "Star Wars" defence shield in Britain.

It emerged yesterday that the Prime Minister has been privately lobbying the US for months to have the missiles deployed in the UK. If the proposal went ahead, it would be the first such US deployment since on British soil since cruise missiles were placed at Greenham Common in 1981.