Obama man stresses importance of dialogue with Iran

Britain News.Net
Wednesday 2nd July, 2008

One of Barack Obama's senior foreign policy advisers has said the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is the biggest threat facing the world.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Anthony Lake, a former US national security adviser now working with Obama, said: "I believe that the most dangerous crisis we are going to face in the next three to 10 years is if the Iranians get on the edge of developing a nuclear weapon."

Obama and his advisers, such as Lake, have stressed the Democratic candidate's readiness to sit down with Iranian leaders without conditions.

In the interview, Lake depicted Obama as a realist rather than an anti-war politician, by saying: "Do you believe that simply sanctioning them can drive them into concessions before you talk, or do you believe that you need to have the sanctions there as a stick at the heart of negotiations."

Lake also said the US Democratic presidential candidate would push Europe to agree on tougher sanctions against Tehran.

He also stressed that Obama, even after withdrawing troops from Iraq over 16 months as he has promised, would maintain "a residual presence for clearly defined missions."

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