The International Atomic Energy Agency began its 51st general conference today, with Iran high on the agenda. The noises from the US and France (aren't they nuclear weapons' states?) are discouraging, and a news report recently from the BBC quoted the UK Foreign Secretary as warning Iran not to develop nuclear weapons, or to act in a way that destabilises the Middle East. And whilst we might scoff at the apparent hypocrisy of a nuclear weapons' power whose invasion of Iraq has been massively destabilising and destructive making such pronouncements, a small piece in the same report about the importance of diplomancy might offer a glimmer of hope. I believe (call me naive, if you like) that the UK really does want to resolve this by diplomatic means, as they say they do. They need every encouragement to resist pressure from the US to be involved in more disastrous military folly.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation has put together a useful briefing (updated just last week) on the issue ... "The Anatomy of the U.S.-Iran Dispute: Why War Is Not the Answer". This is written for a US audience, but is a handy and up-to-date paper for those of us in the UK and elsewhere. The regular updates from BASIC are also key resources for anyone wishing to keep abrest of these matters. It's also timely to post a reminder about the Crisis Iran report "Time to Talk"
There may not be 2 million of us demonstrating in London, but I can't believe many of in this country would support any UK involvement in military action against Iran. The ongoing shock and awe in Iraq is about as brutal a warning as we'll need, isn't it??
