Blair steps up the rhetoric over Iran

Britain’s relations with Iran have been deteriorating in recent months, said the FT - and last week “something snapped”. UK government officials and Tony Blair accused Iran of supplying Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and two security guards since May. Britain accepts Iran has legitimate interests in Iraq.

Britain's relations with Iran have been deteriorating in recent months, said the FT - and last week "something snapped". UK government officials and Tony Blair accused Iran of supplying Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and two security guards since May. Britain accepts Iran has legitimate interests in Iraq.

And until recently believed it was using its "growing influence" to help stabilise Iraq and ensure that its Shia friends dominate the country's leadership. "That view has now changed." Following the collapse of EU-Iran talks on nuclear non-proliferation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, the nuclear watchdog), Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council, which is set to discuss the question of Iranian nuclear capability in November.

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