00:00And joining us now, Richard Dalton in London, former British ambassador to Libya and Iran
00:05and former consul general in Jerusalem.
00:09Richard, U.S. was reportedly warned of this attack, per Donald Trump's latest remarks.
00:15France was not.
00:17Where does this attack leave some of Israel's allies?
00:22Floundering at present.
00:25The Israeli aggression is clearly illegal.
00:28Israel has not met the criteria in international law under which it would be entitled to conduct
00:38a preemptive attack.
00:40Iran hasn't the capability in the nuclear field to attack Israel.
00:47It has no intention of so doing.
00:51It was not necessary for Israel to use force.
00:55And Israel has not provided evidence that's credible that there's been a recent change in Iranian activity in
01:05a threatening direction.
01:07And finally, and most importantly, peaceful means of resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and United States and
01:16Israeli hostility to Iran have not been exhausted.
01:22U.S.-led diplomacy is still underway.
01:25So if they are to be honest with the principles they uphold in other situations, European countries and the United Kingdom should be denouncing this behavior by Israel,
01:39which puts at risk wider implications for the Middle East and for the region as a whole.
01:47Is there any diplomacy that can save us from the brink of a major escalation or possible regional war?
01:58It depends on the degree of harm that Israel has inflicted on Iran and on Israel's and on Iran's decisions as to what to do next.
02:09Clearly, Iran hasn't yet mobilized any of its national power.
02:16It could retaliate against international oil trade.
02:19If there were any suspicion that United States military bases or personnel were assisting any aspect of Israeli operations over the next few days,
02:31then we should expect Iranian retaliation against United States bases, including those in neighboring Arab countries.
02:40But it appears that Israel has the strategic and tactical advantage at present.
02:47And it's too soon to call what will happen over the next few days.
02:54How about nuclear talks that were scheduled between the U.S. and Iran?
02:59Can these nuclear talks be saved at all at this point?
03:03Where do they stand?
03:04I think it's highly unlikely that Iran would participate while it is under attack.
03:12After all, that would be to their way of thinking to demonstrate craven weakness.
03:20And the Iranian government doesn't want to do that, partly because of the domestic situation in Iran,
03:29in which there are dissidents calling for this so-called window of opportunity to confront the regime and change the regime to be exploited.
03:41So one possibility is that Iran will call a definitive halt to diplomacy,
03:49and there will be calls for Iran to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
03:55And we must remember that the reason we're in this situation is that the United States,
04:03at Israeli behest, torpedoed an excellent nuclear agreement between the international community and Iran,
04:11under which Iran's nuclear program was monitored and limited to a greater extent
04:18than any other country's program has been subject to.
04:23And President Trump, in destroying that in 2017, did the rest of us, including the Europeans, a grave disservice.
04:33And it's time for some frank confrontation of the truths of the situation and of past history by all our countries.
04:44So do you see this as an overall diplomatic failure?
04:48Could this all have been avoided?
04:50Yes, this could all have been avoided if the program of action agreed in 2015 and implemented in 2016
05:02had been sincerely carried through by European countries on the commercial front
05:09and had not been destroyed by a deliberate act of international vandalism by the United States in 2017.
05:19Iran, as I said, has shown no willingness to develop offensive nuclear capability.
05:29If Israel has any evidence to the contrary, it should bring it forward now.
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