U.S./Britain Challenge Preemptive Strike Rumors

Jack Straw has dismissed rumors that the U.S. or Great Britain is planning for a major air strike against nuclear targets within Iran. Straw insisted that ‘there is no smoking gun, there is no casus belli.’ The White House has also labeled reports concerning its supposed military aspirations against Iran as ‘over-reported and hyped without knowledge.’ These statements have all been made in response to a magazine report which claims that America is ‘drawing up a list of targets, and teams of combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups.’ The Bush administration has countered by saying that the U.S. military is ‘always making plans for countless contingencies’ but that the ‘diplomatic approach’ is the chosen course vis-a-vis Iran.