International

SP Foreign Affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel has asked Foreign Minster Ben Bot to give his view of the article "The Iran Plans” published in this week's New Yorker magazine. According to the author, respected journalist Seymour Hersch, the United States government is giving serious consideration to the possibility of attacking Iran with tactical nuclear weapons. The weapons would be used to destroy strongly defended underground bunkers.

British Minister for Foreign Affairs Jack Straw has rejected any consideration of using such weapons and Mr Van Bommel is anxious to know whether Mr Bot shares this position and is prepared to make this clear to the US authorities. He has also asked the minister, a member of the Christian Democrats (CDA), if he can confirm that American commando units are currently gathering information on Iranian nuclear energy facilities and the deployment of the Iranian army.

American plans of attack are said to be currently circulating amongst European diplomats and Van Bommel wants to know whether these plans exist and if so are serious or merely hypothetical scenarios. Rumours such as this, he says, are the result of growing tension. “Everything must be done to remove this threat of war. I am anxious to hear from Bot whether he is prepared to put these persistent rumours of planned attacks on Iran on the agenda of the EU, NATO or to raise them in any other international context and, finally, how such an attack can be forestalled.”

The SP is also demanding clarification from Mr Bot regarding the alleged preparation of EU plans to bring pressure to bear on Iran, including the withdrawal of export credit assurances. “I want to know what is the immediate provocation for these plans, how much time is needed for an agreement on these plans to be reached and whether the member states have already been presented with proposals. What proposals has the minister received and what is his response to any such proposals? Should the EU, parallel to any possible debates in the UN Security Council, move to announce independent sanctions against Iran?

“The whole questions is now coming to a head. It must be brought before the Security Council and back to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, where negotiations should be conducted.”