October 15, 2003	Wednesday	Sha'aban 18, 1424

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LONDON, Oct 14: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Tuesday he wanted the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme resolved peacefully but did not rule out possible military action.

Asked in parliament if he ruled out such action if Iran did not cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, Straw said: “We wish to see this matter resolved peacefully. I’m not going to predict what is going to happen except to say we have adopted a consistent approach in respect of Iran.”

Straw was speaking as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, was preparing to leave on Wednesday for Iran, which faces an Oct 31 deadline to allay fears it is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

“The UK government has frequent contact with the government of Iran on this subject and we’ve made clear our serious concerns,” Straw told parliament.

“We’ve also made clear our wish that Iran must maintain complete transparency about its nuclear programmes and comply fully with the demands set out by the IAEA board of governors resolution on Dec 12.”

He said ElBaradei would be making a report to the IAEA board on Nov 7 to say whether Iran had complied with its demands. —AFP