Iranian sceptics scorn ‘Braveheart’ Premier

The Scotsman: A hardline Iranian newspaper has criticised Gordon Brown after the Prime Minister refused to rule out using military action to curb Iran’s nuclear programme. The Scotsman

Michael Theodoulou

A hardline Iranian newspaper has criticised Gordon Brown after the Prime Minister refused to rule out using military action to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

“Talk of war may not exactly sit well with Britain’s voters, currently being ferried around on rubber dinghies where buses once ran,” Kayhan said in an editorial.

Many Iranian commentators and officials had looked forward to a period of better relations between Tehran and London after the departure of Tony Blair, who was portrayed in the Islamic Republic as George Bush’s poodle.

But hardline Iranian sceptics felt vindicated when Mr Brown was asked about possible military action against Iran at his first Downing Street press conference on Monday.

“I’m not one who is going forward to say we rule out any particular form of action,” he said.

The editorial in Kayhan said: “There we were thinking that the new British Prime Minister would be on the wagon, having to tidy up the mess Blair left behind. But alas, no such luck; a wee dram of Highland spirits and a rendition of ‘here we go’ is what we have to put up with.”

And it added: “We suppose that things were just getting a bit too staid even for a Scottish economist to have to switch to ‘Braveheart’ war cries.”