Republican White House hopeful calls for blockade of Iran
Wednesday June 20 2007
FRED Thompson, the actor and former senator widely seen as the Republicans' best hope for keeping the White House, called yesterday for a "blockade" of Iran.
The screen veteran, whose announcement as the eleventh contender for the Republican nomination is expected within days, also gave warning that "jihadists" were trying to bring the West to its knees. Mr Thompson starred in 'Die Hard 2' and 'The Hunt for Red October' before serving as Republican senator for Tennessee.
During a visit to London, he delivered a hawkish lecture on foreign policy, singling out Iran's nuclear ambitions as a key threat to the West. He recalled how President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly threatened to "wipe Israel off the map".
He said: "When the president of Iran shares his nightmare visions before cheering crowds, those are not just a fanatic's version of an empty applause line. The only safe assumption is that he means it. If we know anything from modern history it is that when fanatical tyrants pledge to wipe out an entire nation, we should listen. We must gather our alliance and do all in our power to make sure that such men do not gain the capability to carry out their evil ambitions."
Mr Thompson said sanctions and diplomatic pressure should be used to compel Iran to obey three United Nations resolutions and stop enriching uranium. This process, now being done at Iran's nuclear plant in Natanz, can produce the material essential for a nuclear bomb.
While choking the flow of imports into Iran, a blockade would also have worldwide repercussions by driving up the price of oil, possibly causing a global economic crisis.
"The Western world is in an international struggle with jihadists who see this struggle as part of a conflict that has gone on for centuries and who won't give up until Western countries are brought to their knees," Mr Thompson said. (©Daily Telegraph, London)
- David Blair
