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London, Feb 6, IRNA -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman
confirmed Thursday that that there is a wide gap between the UK and the US over its policy towards Iran.
There is a vast difference between the behaviour of Iran and Iraq, the spokesman said in answering why Blair was prepared to join military action against one of President Bush's 'axis of evil,' while at the same time meet Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
He told domestic and foreign journalists at the prime minister's daily briefing that Iran had not been pursuing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and had not defied any UN resolution.
His comments followed Blair holding 30-minutes of talks with Kharrazi that focused on the impending US-led war against Iraq and on other bilateral issues.
The talks were seen as a signal that the British premier was prepared to differ with the US as well as underline the importance attached by Blair to Iran's position on the launch of military action to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on Wednesday, Kharrazi said Wednesday that he had come to Britain to hold further discussions on how to ensure that Iraq meets its international obligations and try to prevent the war.
Iran believes that consultations, including with Iraq's neighbours and members of the UN Security council, were "very much necessary" and this was why he was in London to see "how we can avoid war and get Saddam to comply with UN resolutions," he said.
The British premier met Kharrazi on his previous visit to the UK in January 2000, when he emphasised the importance of being the first Iranian foreign minister to visit London since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Answering questions on Wednesday, Kharrazi underlined that Iran was firmly opposed to unilateral military action being launched by the US against Iraq, saying that it was the "responsibility of the Security Council" to deal with the crisis.
He also insisted that it was up to the Iraqi people to bring about any change of regime.
The Iranian foreign minister was having further talks with Straw over lunch and meeting the chairman of the influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Donald Anderson.
In an interview with IRNA last week, Anderson confirmed that his all-party committee was "fully behind the British government's wish to open a serious dialogue across the board with Iran as a country of enormous geo-strategic importance."
Blair later Thursday was meeting UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, during which the prime minister was expected to gauge whether Saddam would be declared in breach of resolutions when he presents his second report to the Security Council on February 14.
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