Iran supplied weapons to Syria

smh.com.au -- BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has accused the Iranian regime of supplying weapons for the Syrian onslaught on democracy protests as Russia's Foreign Minister warned that the West was set on a path to war with Tehran.

Mr Cameron disclosed that British officials had been told weapons shipments from Iran to Syria had been intercepted by Turkey and that intelligence reports confirmed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement, was actively involved in the slaughter in Syria.

''There is now growing evidence that Iran is providing a huge amount of support,'' he told the House of Commons. ''There have been interceptions of some shipments by Turkey which are particularly interesting,'' he said. ''People should also know that Hezbollah is an organisation standing up and supporting this wretched tyrant who is killing so many of his own people.''
Advertisement: Story continues below

Mounting frustration over the role of foreign support for the Syrian regime has led to the British government and other Western powers switching tactics in recent days. After deferring to an Arab League initiative to send in monitoring teams to defuse violence, diplomats now want a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the regime.

Officials said Mr Cameron was keen to draw clear distinctions between those countries opposed to brutality and those that were complicit.

But Russia made clear it had drawn a line against the Western barrage of criticism of Iran. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was doing all he could to resist military action against Iran to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mr Lavrov said Western accusations against Iran were pushing the region closer to confrontation as well as provoking sectarian clashes in places such as Syria.

''As for the chances of this catastrophe happening, you would have to ask those constantly mentioning it as an option that remains on the table,'' he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak appeared to withdraw one pressing threat against Iran by saying a military strike was ''very far away''.

Israeli officials have said they believe that tough economic measures against Iran could force the regime to abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

British and European officials dismissed Iranian claims that it was in talks to resume negotiations with the UN Security Council about its nuclear work.

A meeting of European Union ambassadors in Brussels overnight was expected to decide on an EU oil embargo on Iran to be imposed later in the year, according to diplomats.

A decision to impose an EU embargo, which would come into effect at the same time as US punitive measures aimed at the global financing of Iran's oil exports, would radically increase pressure on Tehran, which has already been subject to four waves of UN sanctions for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.