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Germany attacks US on Iran threat
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has warned the US to back away from the
possibility of military action against Iran over its nuclear programme.
His comments come a day after President Bush reiterated that force remained
an option but only as a last resort.
Iran has resumed what it says is a civilian nuclear research programme but
which the West fears could be used to develop nuclear arms.
Germany, France and the UK have led efforts to end the crisis peacefully.
Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work
Gerhard Schroeder
Mr Schroeder's rejection of force came at the official launch of his party's
election campaign.
The BBC's Ray Furlong - reporting from Hanover - says there was an echo of
his last election campaign three years ago, when his steadfast opposition to the
use of force against Iraq helped get him re-elected.
Applause
Mr Schroeder directly challenged Mr Bush's comment that "all options are on
the table" over the Iran crisis.
"Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work,"
Mr Schroeder told Social Democrats at the rally in Hanover, to rapturous
applause from the crowd.
Mr Schroeder said it remained important that Iran did not gain atomic
weapons, and a strong negotiating position was important.
"The Europeans and the Americans are united in this goal," he said. "Up to
now we were also united in the way to pursue this."
Mr Schroeder reiterates his views in an interview to be published Sunday in
the German weekly Bild am Sonntag, labelling military action "extremely
dangerous".
"This is why I can with certainty exclude any participation by the German
government under my direction," Mr Schroeder tells the paper.
Mr Schroeder was among Europe's sternest critics of the Iraq war, causing a
bitter rift with the US which poisoned relations between the two countries.
His opposition, in tandem with that President Jacques Chirac's France, led to
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld's stinging attack on "old Europe".
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as
yellowcake
Yellowcake is converted into a gas by heating it to about 64C (147F)
Gas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate and process is
repeated until uranium is enriched
Low-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel
Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons
The UN's atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, backed a
resolution this week expressing "serious concern" at the resumption of the
nuclear programme, and demanding it be halted again at once.
Mr Bush's comments about the military option came in an interview on Israeli
TV.
The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says the president wants to send a
clear warning to Tehran, although in reality the US already has its hands full in
neighbouring Iraq.
Mr Schroeder is lagging well behind his conservative rivals in the German
election campaign, but has been narrowing the gap in recent days.
In the 2002 poll, he came from behind to snatch victory after anti-Iraq war
feeling - and an outbreak of serious flooding in Germany - helped him attract
last-minute support.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk |
