Iran must obey rules on nuclear program: Blair

LONDON (Reuters) – Iran must obey international rules over
its nuclear program and should not doubt the will of the
international community to ensure it does so, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday.

Blair, due to hold talks on Iran soon with U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, said Britain and the United States
would continue to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear
activities, which Washington says — and Iran denies — are a
cover for making atomic bombs.

“The position of Europe and America has been the same on
this. We will continue the pressure,” Blair told a news
conference.

“They have to abide by the rules of the international
community on their nuclear capability. They have to stop
support for terrorism, whether it’s in the Middle East or
elsewhere.”

“I think they would make a great mistake if they thought
the international community lacked the will to make sure that
is done,” he added.

Washington and the EU have prepared the way for the
governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) to send Iran to the United Nations Security Council next
month for possible sanctions for violating international
obligations.

Blair said Britain was “concerned” about the situation in
Iran and said a recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear activities
was “very significant.”

Rice is expected to be in Paris on Friday and London at the
weekend in a bid to hammer out a joint strategy for curbing
Iran’s suspected nuclear arms programs and persuading Tehran to
resume negotiations.

Britain, France and Germany led negotiations with Tehran
over its nuclear program but talks collapsed in August. Iran
insists its nuclear activities are solely for peaceful
purposes.

“We’ll pursue those discussions, but it has to be on the
basis that people live up to their obligations under the IAEA
rules,” Blair said. “Nothing less than full obedience to the
rules is acceptable.”

British-Iranian relations were further strained recently
when an unnamed senior British official said London believed
Iran had given insurgents in Iraq armor-piercing explosives and
infra-red devices used to kill British troops there.

Blair said evidence pointed to Iran or its Lebanese
Hizbollah allies as the source of the explosives but said
Britain did not have proof.