British Foreign Secretary: no plans for Iran

May 9, 2006

Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, today confirmed that there are no plans for military action in Iran. Beckett has been speaking at a meeting in New York to discuss international policy concerning Iran with her counterparts from France, Germany, Russia, China and the US.

Speaking on BBC Radio she said, "it's not anybody's intention to take the course of military action". Beckett refused, however, to rule out action as 'inconceivable' in the way that her predecessor Jack Straw had.

"'What people are concerned to do is to get Iran to recognise the strong view and the clear will of the international community that they should comply with the IEAE [International Atomic Energy Agency] board. You're inviting me to tread down the path of talking about military action - I'm not going to do that. Everybody expresses their views, their stance, in their own way. The way that I choose to express it is that it's not anybody's intention to take the course of military action. That I think is simple and straightforward and clear.'"

Tony Blair, speaking in a monthly press conference, said that the change of Foreign Secretary would not change policy "one iota".