BERLIN, June 21: A senior German minister has warned the United States against armed intervention in Iran, saying the only way forward to democracy there was by political dialogue with the country’s reformers.

Interviewed by the newspaper Tagesspiegel am Sonntag appearing Sunday, Cooperation Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said: “I can only warn against such action. It would be a bad path to take.”

The German government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder aimed at “reinforcing the process of democratisation in the country by means of dialogue with reforming forces in Iranian society,” she said in the interview, released in advance.

A senior member of the US administration said Friday the United States reserved the right to take military action against Iran over its nuclear programme, but added that any such move was “far from our minds” at present.

John Bolton, Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, told BBC radio military action was a last resort but insisted that Iran could not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

The German minister also criticized Washington for its management of the situation in Iraq.

“The Americans had a plan for how to run the war but they have no idea either about reconstruction of a new post-war order or about peace,” Wieczorek-Zeul said.—AFP