Voices Against War on Iran: Hans Blix; Former Australian Foreign Minister Downer; Tehran University Professor

March 27, 2012 • 7:03AM

Consider former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's call Monday for "diplomatic force," not war against Iran, as a voice of from within the British Empire, getting nervous about proceeding towards total Hell. "Recently, there's been loose talk about mounting a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel has done that twice; once in Iraq and more recently in Syria... In the case of Iran, it would not be so straightforward," Downer wrote in a piece published in South Australia's AdelaideNow news site today.

Downer doesn't get even close to touching the global thermonuclear war that such as strike could trigger in his list of "pretty nasty" results of such a strike, but he is nervous enough to argue that instead of military action, U.N. sanctions must be "coupled with effective diplomacy," and that includes giving reassurances to Iran that if it cooperates with the IAEA and makes clear it has no nuclear weapons program, "whatever reservations the West has about the theocracy in Iran, it's not going to try by force to change the regime. You have to hope this strategy will work," Downer wrote, "but it will require wise and sober judgment. Let's hope and pray for that."

Former IAEA chief Hans Blix hammered again against "a legally unjustified" attack on Iran, in an exclusive March 24 interview with Al Jazeera. Blix referenced the infamous "yellow cake" fraud attempted in the run-up to the Iraq war, as exemplary of false information being handed to the IAEA. Blix said the Israelis have been saying for years that Iran is about to build a bomb, adding, "in a way the Iranians have been more open [about their nuclear activities] than most other countries would be.... Very frequently I think the western world has been unwise in the way they treat Iran. They say that Iran must behave itself as it were a minor they were talking to," Blix said; asking Iran to "kneel" before them cannot lead to an agreement.

For its part, China's Xinhua news service featured the message from Tehran University professor Dr. Sadeq Zibakalam, that if Israel launches an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the U.S. will be dragged into war, Iran will retaliate, and all the region may be plunged into war. "The U.S. and Israel can start the war, but they cannot finish it," Zibakalam told Xinhua. In his view, Iran "is serious and genuine about the upcoming nuclear talks, and will likely make some concessions," although no one should "expect Iran to raise its hands and say that it gives in to the United States."