April 24, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1429

LONDON, April 23: A British minister said on Wednesday that Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s threat to “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacks Israel with nuclear weapons was imprudent.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, a former United Nations deputy secretary-general and the foreign office minister responsible for Asia, questioned the comments by the New York senator, made in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “While it is reasonable to warn Iran of the consequence of it continuing to develop nuclear weapons and what those real consequences bring to its security, it is not probably prudent... in today’s world to threaten to obliterate any other country and in many cases civilian residents in such a country,” he said.

The British government wanted a Middle East -- including Israel -- free of nuclear weapons, he said, responding to a question in the House of Lords, Britain’s unelected upper chamber of parliament. In response to a question on what she would do if Tehran were to attack Israel, Hillary Clinton told ABC News: “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran.—AFP