Hague Warns Of 'New Cold War' Fear Over Iran

Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons could plunge the world into "a new Cold War", Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

Mr Hague warned a nuclear arms race among rival Middle Eastern countries would carry the dangers of the old rivalry between the West and the USSR.

He said Britain did not support military action against Iran and that an Israeli attack on the Islamic state's nuclear assets would have "enormous downsides".

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said: "(The Iranians) are clearly continuing their nuclear weapons programme.

"If they obtain nuclear weapons capability, then I think other nations across the Middle East will want to develop nuclear weapons.

"And so, the most serious round of nuclear proliferation since nuclear weapons were invented would have begun with all the destabilising effects in the Middle East. And the threat of a new Cold War in the Middle East without necessarily all the safety mechanisms. That would be a disaster in world affairs."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed this week that Iran had loaded its first domestically-made fuel rod into a nuclear reactor.

Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is purely for civilian purposes, but Western powers suspect Tehran is trying to develop the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

There are growing fears that Mr Ahmadinejad will not be deterred by increasingly punitive sanctions, the preferred route of the UK and US.

Mr Hague stressed that "all options must remain on the table" concerning Iran.

"We are very clear to all concerned that we are not advocating military action," he said.

"We support a twin-track strategy of sanctions and pressure and negotiations on the other hand."

He added: "We are not favouring the idea of anybody attacking Iran at the moment."