British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arrived in Tehran Wednesday on the last leg of his regional tour on the backdrop of a possible US-led attack on Iraq.
Straw landed in Tehran after a 48-hour Middle East tour through Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.
"There is not a single government in the whole of this region which is not fully aware of the evil nature of the Iraqi regime and wishes to see Saddam Hussein disarmed," Straw told reporters before leaving Kuwait for Iran on Wednesday. "That conviction, which I knew to be true before I came, has been wholly reinforced by my visit to the region."
Straw noted that Baghdad must understand its limited choices -- allow U.N. inspectors to end its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction or "the use of force. We prefer the first." "Are we committed long term to the stability of this region? Yes we are," he said.
Meanwhile, Iran barred Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, from entering the country with journalists accompanying Straw, British diplomats told Reuters.
Iranian officials gave no reason for excluding Amanpour, who is half Iranian and half British.
"We find the Iranian government decision to ban Christiane inexplicable and unjustified," CNN spokeswoman Suzanna Flood said.
A British diplomat in Tehran told Reuters: "The facts are that the Iranians do not want her to come into the country and she has had to get off the plane in Kuwait." "They have an exclusion order against her, and they have refused to reconsider it for this trip," the diplomat added.
Amanpour has reported on most crises from many of the world’s hotspots, including Afghanistan, the Balkans, Iran, Iraq, the Middle East, Pakistan and Somalia. She held exclusive interviews with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Iranian President Khatami.
Additionally, she was the last journalist to interview the late King Hussein of Jordan, just days before his demise. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
