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Attacking Iran will be disastrous, U.S. warned

Julian Borger— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Former U.S. officers urge Blair to slow the march to war

London: Warnings of the dire consequences of military confrontation with Iran, and calls for a renewed diplomatic effort, are being issued on both sides of the Atlantic in a sign of the growing anxiety over the prospect of U.S. or Israeli action.

A coalition of foreign policy think-tanks, humanitarian organisations and peace groups are to issue a report arguing that an attack on Iran, reportedly being contemplated by the U.S. and Israel as a means of slowing down Iran's nuclear programme, would backfire disastrously.

Sir Richard Dalton, Britain's former ambassador to Tehran, backed the report's conclusions. ``Diplomacy has not been exhausted,'' he said. ``Military action should be a last resort, used in self-defence against an imminent threat, and we have not reached that position yet.''

Three former high-ranking U.S. officers echoed the report's conclusions and urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to slow the march to war by making it clear to Washington that he would oppose a military attack on Iran.

In a letter in on Sunday in London-based Sunday Times, the retired officers — General Joseph Hoar, a former head of U.S. central command, Lieutenant General Robert Gard and Vice-Admiral Jack Shanahan — said a strike against Iran ``would have disastrous consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions''.

The warnings come against a background of rising tension, with a new U.S. determination to combat what Washington sees as covert Iranian support for militants in Iraq, and with steadily growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear ambitions. In little more than two weeks a U.N. deadline expires for Iran to stop enrichment of uranium, which could trigger international sanctions. But there were reports over the weekend that Iran could be accelerating work on a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.

British officials are concerned that hawks are winning the debate in Washington with claims that the only way to hinder Iran's development of nuclear arms is to launch air strikes against suspected weapons development sites. But Sunday's report argues that military action would have far-reaching negative consequences.

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