MALAYSIA, which chairs the world's biggest grouping of Muslim countries, has warned that the United States will stand alone in the world if it attacks Iran.
The world community, including allies of the United States, was opposed to any such action by the superpower, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on his return from a trip to Paris late yesterday.
"Europe does not agree, the United States' close ally Britain does not agree, and I believe no one else will agree," Abdullah, who chairs the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, said.
"The Islamic world will definitely not agree to an attack on Iran," he said.
"Talks should instead be held and made a priority, rather than military action."
US President George W. Bush - who once lumped Iran in an "axis of evil" with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea - said last week he could not rule out using force if Tehran failed to rein in its nuclear plans.
Iran, which denies wishing to acquire a nuclear bomb, in November announced the suspension of its nuclear enrichment programme following protracted talks with Britain, France and Germany.
In mid-December, the three countries again took up talks with Tehran to try to conclude a long-term deal whereby the Iranians would definitively give up any ambitions of producing a nuclear weapon. |