Straw backs off from US Nuclear Plan

I see Jack Straw is doing his best to distance the UK goverment from the claims being made by Seymour Hersh that the US is planning to use nuclear bunker busting missiles against Iran.

The Foreign Secretary described the idea that the White House wanted a nuclear strike as “completely nuts”. He insisted that Britain would not support pre-emptive military action, adding: “I’m as certain as I can be sitting here that neither would the United States.”

Many analysts in the West suspect that Tehran is attempting to build its own nuclear weapons. Over the weekend Iran allowed UN inspectors to examine some of the atomic plants which, its Government maintains, are designed solely for production of electricity.

Now we can only assume that nothing was found and that the Americans are once again seeing Iranian intent where none exists, otherwise every front page in the country would be heralding the news of Iran's deception.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Straw said: “There is no smoking gun, there is no casus belli. We can’t be certain about Iran’s intentions and that is, therefore, not a basis on which anybody would gain authority to go for military action.”

I wonder how truthful the Foreign Secretary is being. As I reported here, The Telegraph have been reporting that the UK government are having secret talks to discuss the possibility of military strikes against Iran, saying that a strike against Tehran is "inevitable", if the Iranians do not stop their uranium enrichment programme.

So, the UK government have been meeting to discuss what the consequences of an air strike on Iranian soil would be. So it's obviously a possibility. Perhaps it's the fact that it's a "nuclear" strike that gives Straw the ability to act outraged.

You've to watch yourself with Straw and Blair. They'll exploit any loophole to keep you off their scent.

I remember Blair being asked by a member of the sudience prior to the Iraq war about plans to hit Iraq with "3oo,000 missiles". Now we had all heard of Shock and Awe and knew that this was what was proposed, but because she'd overstated the number of missiles, Blair was able to feign shock and say, "I'd never support such a plan".

Straw's denial may be worth less than it appears.

Tags: UK, US, Iran, Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary, nuclear, attack,