We won’t live with a nuclear Iran, says Cameron

DAVID Cameron last night warned Iran is a ‘threat to the world’ and Britain will not ‘learn to live’ with the regime getting nuclear arms.

The Prime Minister said he told Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu now is not the time to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities since it would unite Iranians behind the regime.

But he held out the prospect of air strikes in future if the Iranians do not come to the negotiating table.

Mr Cameron spoke out at an influential dinner for the Jewish community in London as the European Union imposed new sanctions on Tehran. These will see a crackdown on banking, energy and trade links.

In his toughest attack on the government in Tehran to date, Mr Cameron told the annual dinner of the United Jewish Israel Appeal that the regime’s ‘claim that its nuclear programme is intended purely for civilian purposes is not remotely credible’.

He added: ‘Iran is not just a threat to Israel. It is a threat to the world.

‘Now there are some who say nothing will work – and that we have to learn to live with a nuclear-armed Iran. I say we don’t and we shouldn’t. But at the same time I also refuse to give in to those who say that the current policy is fatally flawed, and that we have no choice but military action.’

With sources in Israel warning that it is gearing up for a military strike, Mr Cameron added: ‘We need the courage to give these sanctions time to work.’

But in a sign that he might be prepared to sanction military action in future, he added: ‘Let me also say this. In the long term, if Iran makes the wrong choice, nothing is off the table.’ Mr Cameron said sanctions are biting to such a degree that some Iranians are now ‘beginning to question the regime’s strategy’ with ‘even pro-regime groups protesting at the actions of the Government’.

Foreign ministers in Brussels have also agreed to ban the export of naval equipment and raw materials such as graphite to Iran in an attempt to make it harder for the regime to develop a nuclear arsenal.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ‘The EU’s message today is clear: Iran should not underestimate our resolve.’