Iran's nuclear programme could tip the world into 'a new Cold War', warns William Hague as U.S. says strike on Tehran is inevitable

• Fears of a Middle East arms race if rogue state develops nuclear weapons
  
• U.S. warns a strike on Tehran is inevitable later this year

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:44 PM on 18th February 2012

Iran's nuclear ambitions could plunge the world into 'a new Cold War' with the Middle East, Foreign Secretary William Hague warned today.

He predicted a nuclear arms race among rival Middle Eastern states that would carry the dangers without the safety mechanisms of the old rivalry between the West and the former USSR.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he insisted Britain did not back military action against the Islamic republic - as Israel is thought to be planning.

He told the newspaper: "If [the Iranians] obtain nuclear weapons capability, then I think other nations across the Middle East will want to develop nuclear weapons.

'And so the most serious round of nuclear proliferation since nuclear weapons were invented would have begun, with all the destabilising effects in the Middle East - and the threat of a new Cold War in the Middle East without necessarily all the safety mechansims.

'That would be a disaster in world affairs.'

He said that Britain could be in range of Iranian nuclear weapons and that nuclear materials could fall into the hands of terrorists.

However he said all options must remain on the table when dealing with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime.


FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102960/Irans-nuclear-progr...