LONDON, March 21: Britain would be prepared to use its atomic bombs if states such as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against British forces, the UK defence secretary Geoff Hoon told members of the parliament here.

But Hoon warned that Britain’s nuclear arsenal may not be enough to deter dictators such as Saddam Hussein from aiming at Britain with weapons of mass destruction.

He also revealed that the UK could potentially be accurately targeted by a ballistic missile fired from the Middle East within the “next few years”. But the defence secretary said that currently there was no “direct threat” to the UK of a missile attack involving weapons of mass destruction, that could change.

He said there was a prospect that some “states of concern” - such as Iraq or Libya - “might be capable of targeting the UK” within a few years.