By Anwar Elshamy
A SENIOR British diplomat yesterday ruled out the possibility of an attack by the US or Israel on Iran over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme, saying the international community had been seeking a peaceful solution to the problem.
“Nobody is preparing for a war with Iran. The Americans support the European diplomatic initiative to reach a solution on Iran’s nuclear file,” Jon Wilks, Arabic spokesman for the British government in the region said at a briefing at the British embassy yesterday.
“I think the recent US intelligence report proved that Washington has no intention to escalate the conflict. It is very clear that all the parties involved in the conflict with Iran are fully supporting a peaceful solution,” he said.
Wilks, who has been the Arabic spokesman for the British government since last April, said he was in Doha for an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel.
“The post of the regional spokesman is a new one. It was created only nine months ago. Though I am based in Dubai, I frequently visit Arab countries to communicate with the Arab media and explain the UK viewpoint on the conflicts in the region,” Wilks, who is fluent in Arabic, said.
Wilks also urged Iran to dispel suspicions over its nuclear programme by stopping its uranium enrichment programme.
“Iran has a golden opportunity to improve its relationship with the US, the European countries and the Gulf states. The UK, France and Germany had offered a generous deal of technical co-operation with Iran two years ago. But so far we have not received any positive response from Iran. We respect the right of all countries of the region including Iran to have a peaceful nuclear programme,” he said.
“I think the ball is now in Iran’s court, especially after Russia pledged to provide Iran with the nuclear fuel,” he said, while stressing that the UN Security Council would lift sanctions on Iran if Tehran suspended uranium enrichment.
To a question on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the British diplomat said his government fully supported the two-state solution.
“We are ready to deal with any Palestinian faction including Hamas provided that it denounces violence and adopts the two-state solution. I think any other solution would only trigger more violence, terror, wars and sufferings both for the Palestinians and the Israelis.”
Wilks stressed there would be no permanent solution to the conflict without an improvement in the economic situation of the Palestinian people.
“We should accept that without improving the daily life of the Palestinians, there would be no peace in the region. For that reason, we are always urging Israel to open the borders both with the West Bank and Gaza and not to add to the sufferings of the Palestinians.”
Wilks blamed the Hamas for the crisis in Gaza. Hamas firing missiles into Israel “is the main reason behind the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We respect Israel’s security concerns. However, we are against any sufferings of the people in Gaza.”
Wilks said “both the Israelis and Palestinians have to take difficult decisions to achieve peace. Israel has to stop building new settlements and the Palestinians have to denounce violence and accept the two-state solution,” he stressed.
About the situation in Lebanon, Wilks urged both Iran and Syria to help the Lebanese people in finding a “reconciliatory” solution.
“I would like that both Iran and Syria contribute to the international community’s efforts to make peace in the region,” he added.
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