Military action against Iran is not on anyone's agenda, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Sunday after a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
"Military action is not on anybody's agenda in respect of the Iranian nuclear dossier," Straw said on Channel 4 television.
"My own belief is that military action in respect of the nuclear dossier in respect of Iran is inconceivable," he stressed.
Iran denies allegations by the United States that it has sought to develop nuclear weapons, and insists it needs nuclear energy to replace oil stocks when they run out.
Talks on the nuclear issue between Iran and the so-called EU-3 — Britain, France and Germany — broke down in August after Tehran ended a freeze on uranium fuel cycle work.
On Sunday it reiterated its refusal to suspend uranium fuel work, as sought by the three European states as a precondition of resuming talks with Tehran.
The United States and the EU-3 have been lobbying members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities.
The remarks by Jack Straw also follow a war of words between Iran and Britain with mutual allegations of interference.
Iran's hardline president said Sunday he suspected British involvement in a double bomb attack in the southwest of his country, an allegation that closely followed British complaints of Iranian meddling in Iraq.
