Solana: Military strike on Iran would be a 'mistake'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-06 09:26

A shock military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would be a "mistake", the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a British television interview.

Speaking on ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby programme, the EU's high representative for foreign and security policy said that such unilateral action would be counter-productive.

A shock military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would be a 'mistake', the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a British television interview. [AFP/File]

Asked about US Vice President Dick Cheney's warning last month that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities without warning, Solana said: "I think that would be something I would not like to see taking place. That would be a mistake. That will complicate enormously the situation."

"Unilateral action of that nature I don't think will contribute to what is the aim of everybody," he added. "I don't think at this point in time that it is worth thinking about that."

Asked if he agreed with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that US military action against Iran is "inconceivable", Solana replied: "I think at this point in time military action... is very difficult to conceive."

"I don't think that the United States has at this point of time the wish or the will or the capability to do that."

Last week in London, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that a military strike against Tehran was "simply not on the agenda".

Britain, France and Germany have been involved in diplomatic efforts to get Iran to abandon any military nuclear programme in return for co-operation with civilian projects.

Asked whether he agreed with US President George W. Bush's description of Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror", Solana said: "Well it's very difficult to say who is the first, or the second, or the third".

"But there is no doubt that Iran has... in its territory and financially it helps organisations which are terrorist inclined," he said, adding: "I don't know that is being done directly by the most important people in the country."

Close