Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Nuclear Attack on Iran – “Not on the Agenda”

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw gestures as he answers journalists’ questions during a news conference in Salzburg in this March 10, 2006 file photo. Straw said April 9 that a military strike against Iran is not on the agenda and the United States is committed to a negotiated solution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Reuters: Military strike on Iran “not on agenda”: UK’s Straw

A military strike against Iran is not on the agenda and the United States is committed to a negotiated solution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Sunday.

The idea that Washington could launch a nuclear strike against Iran was “completely nuts,” Straw said in an interview on BBC television.

Straw was responding to a report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine that the U.S. administration was stepping up plans for a possible air strike on Iran. The White House, without denying the report, reiterated that it was pursuing a diplomatic solution to the nuclear row.

The report said the U.S. administration was seriously considering using “bunker buster” tactical nuclear weapons against Iran to destroy its main centrifuge plant.

Military action against Iran was “not on the agenda,” Straw said.

The Pentagon is always making contingent war plans. But, this release of information sends a definite message to Iran.

Remember, it was just last seek that Iran was boasting about their “new” military hardware and war making capability in the “Great Prophet” war games off the Strait of Hormuz.

“They (the Americans) are very committed indeed to resolving this issue … by negotiation and by diplomatic pressure. And what the Iranians have to do is recognize they have overplayed their hand at each stage …,” he said.

Straw said Britain, Washington’s closest European ally, would not accept a pre-emptive strike against Iran, adding: “I am as certain as I can be sitting here that neither would the United States.”

Agreed. But, will Iran stand still with the imposition of measured sanctions to force them to forego their uranium enrichment program?

Doubtful……

Circumstantial evidence added up to a “high suspicion” that Iran was developing a civil nuclear capability that could be used for nuclear weapons, he said.

“But let’s be clear: There is no smoking gun … We can’t be certain about Iran’s intentions and that is therefore not a basis on which anybody would gain authority for military action,” he said.

But if Iran were to attack Israel or to attack or threaten its neighbors, “that’s a very different circumstance,” Straw said, adding that Israel would have a right to self-defence if attacked.

A negotiated settlement is best.

But, Iran MUST STAND DOWN their uranium enrichment program and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to fully inspect their nuclear facilities.

There will be NO compromise. Iran WILL NOT possess a nuclear weapon.

Stay tuned…….