Britain rules out force against Iran

[cal04]

Military force is not on the agenda in the international impasse over Iran's uranium enrichment programme, Britain said today. The comment from the Foreign Office followed last night's agreement in Vienna on a package of proposals to be presented to Iran. The five permanent members of the UN security council and Germany signed off on a package of carrots and sticks in the latest initiative to break the diplomatic deadlock over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Last night's package is expected to be presented to Tehran within the next few weeks by the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Details of the package have not been made public but the Foreign Office today issued a categorical statement ruling out the use of force. "All parties are committed to a diplomatic solution," the statement said. "The use of military force was not discussed at all last night. This reflects the fact that military force is not on the agenda."

Earlier Russia said plans to break the impasse excluded the use of military force "in any circumstances". "I can say unambiguously that all the agreements from yesterday's meetings rule out, in any circumstances, the use of military force," the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was quoted as saying by Moscow's RIA news agency. But the Bush administration has resisted offering assurances that Iran would not be the target of a military attack. The US today put the matter more starkly. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, told CNN: "They need to make a choice. The international community needs to know if negotiation is a real option... Russia and China have signed on to the two paths." Ms Rice also said Iran had a matter of weeks, not months, in order to respond to the US-EU initiative.

Iran today remained defiant, insisting on its right to proceed with uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material for use in nuclear weapons. "Iran is determined to go ahead with its nuclear enrichment work for peaceful purposes," said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation. In response, the Washington said Iran should take its time over the US-EU approach. "As we've said, we think it's fair to give the government of Iran an opportunity to review carefully everything in the package," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "We understand people may make statements, but we want to give them time to study this." The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, last night said Iran would be offered the opportunity to reach agreement with the international community through negotiation and cooperation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1788821,00.html
where have we heard this before

[AlamoDemoc]

1. Yep that's right...they said the same thing about Iraq

[joe_shmoe]

2. **Please sign this petition against military actin against Iran**

It is with grave concern that I observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link: http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn /