“Allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons would be a “desperately bad development for the world”, said David Cameron today at the talks in the United Arab Emirates on future defense co-operation.
The Prime Minister alerted of a potential arms race across the Middle East amid rising tensions over Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program in the region and planning for dealing with any wildfire.
Visiting a military airbase in Dubai with Defense Secretary Philip Hammond, he showed off RAF Typhoon jets there as part of an exercise, hoping the UAE will buy 60 of the BAE aircraft.
“Iran does pose a threat in two ways. First of all, if Iran is embarked on trying to acquire a nuclear weapon, as I believe it is, that is a threat in itself. It is a hugely concerning development, a desperately bad development for our world and that is why we should do everything we can to stop it happening. Secondly, it could trigger a nuclear arms race across the whole region. That would consume a huge amount of resources and energy but also I think make the Middle East a more dangerous, more unstable part of the world.”
He urged to do everything to try to persuade the Iranians to take a different course. “The message we need to send to Iran is: there is a peaceful path; there is a path you could take that will remove the pariah status from your nation and that is to accept that you could have civil nuclear power but not military nuclear power and then we could have a proper discussion.” he said.
