Time to Talk to Iran

Military attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences warns new report [PDF]: Coalition urges new diplomatic push to avoid crisis.

On the one year anniversary of Iran’s referral to the Security Council, a new joint report by 15 organisations – including think tanks, aid agencies, religious groups and Trade Unions – warns that, despite the seriousness of the situation, there is still ‘time to talk’. This must be used to avoid an escalation with potentially disastrous consequences.

The report urges the UK government to work with allies in a sustained effort to find a diplomatic solution. In particular, they should push for:

• Face to face talks between Iran and the US
• A compromise on the suspension of uranium enrichment as a precondition for negotiation
• Further development of a ‘grand bargain’ in which the EU offer of June 2006 is developed further to include security guarantees between Israel, Iran and the US.

“The consequences of military action against Iran are not only unpalatable, they are unthinkable. Even according to the worst estimates, Iran is still years away from having a nuclear weapon. There is still time to talk and the Prime Minister must make sure our allies use it,” said Stephen Twigg, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre.

Read the complete report: Time to Talk: The Case for Diplomatic Solutions on Iran [PDF].