Blair Hopeful of High-Level Contacts With Iran/tehrantimes/April 30

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/30/03&Cat=2&Num=021

April 30, 2003 Ý

Blair Hopeful of High-Level Contacts With Iran
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair says Iran has an important role not only in the reconstruction of Iraq but in the Middle East peace process and that Britain wants to further the development of bilateral relations to seek cooperation, IRNA reported.

"I hope in the near future we will have high-level contacts with the Iranian government that will allow us to discuss some of these issues," Blair told British and foreign journalists at his monthly press conference on Monday. Unlike the U.S., he said that he was "not accusing" Iran of trying to intervene in Iraq. He also distanced himself from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's rejection of alleged attempts at establishing an Islamic state in Iraq, saying "Let's wait and see how that develops."

"Iran has got a very close interest in what happens in Iraq," the British prime minister said. "We recognize the concerns that Iran has and we will discuss those concerns with them," he added.

Speaking in the House of Commons Monday, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw commended the "constructive approach" taken by Iran toward Iraq and repeated that the British government was "grateful" to the cooperation that had been achieved.

"We look to the Iranians to continue to play a constructive role in supporting the establishment of government and political institutions and to do so in a benign way," he told MPs.

During his press conference, Blair again denied any U.S. plans to take military action against Iran or Syria.

"I don't think people should pay too much attention to some of the conspiracy theories about a series of invasions," he said.

"What we have wanted is Syrian cooperation and we want Iranian cooperation, too, and I believe that is true not just in relation to Iraq incidentally," he said. The prime minister insisted the single most important thing for the Middle East peace process to move forward again would be for "Syria and Iran to play a part in that."