Iran and Israel square off after triple bombing

Martin Fletcher

Last updated February 15 2012 12:59PM

The chances of fresh conflict in the Middle East rose sharply today as further evidence emerged of Iran?s involvement in this week?s terrorist attacks on Israeli targets and Israel demanded global action to end Iranian aggression. At the same time Iran unveiled the latest advances in its nuclear programme in defiance of increasingly draconian international sanctions designed to deter its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iranian state media also announced that the Islamic Republic was halting oil exports to six European countries in retaliation for an EU ban on Iranian oil. The EU had delayed the ban until July to give member states time to find other sources and prevent oil prices soaring. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, who is threatening to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, declared: ?Iran is undermining the stability of the world. ?Nations of the world must ... draw a red line against this Iranian aggression,? he told the Israeli parliament. ?Aggression like this, if it is not stopped, will spread like a storm.? He was speaking in the wake of Monday?s attacks on Israeli diplomats in Delhi and Tbilisi, and three explosions in Bangkok on Tuesday in which an Iranian man accidentally blew off his own legs. Iran has denied responsibility for the attacks, but Mr Netanyahu claimed that ?Iran?s terrorist activities have been exposed to everyone? and fresh evidence emerged today to bolster his claim. Malays

President Sarkozy?s plan to kick off his re-election campaign with a formal announcement of his candidacy today was embroiled in controversy as an MP in his centre-right camp denied that homosexuals had been deported from France by the Nazis during the Second World War. Christian Vanneste?s outburst forced Mr Sarkozy?s supporters to distance themselves from his remarks in an unwelcome distraction on a decisive day. In an interview with Libert? Politique, a Catholic internet site, Mr Vanneste said that a homosexual was ?someone who refuses other people?. ?There is famous legend of the deportation of homosexuals in France,? he said. ?There was no deportation of homosexuals.? He went on to claim that a homosexual lobby controlled the French media and cultural establishment and ?systematically deformed the facts?. As his words provoked indignation, Delphin

Last updated February 15 2012 12:15PM

Substantial headwinds are hampering the UK?s recovery, the Governor of the Bank of England warned today, as better than expected jobless data gave hope that a recovery was underway. Speaking at the launch of the Bank?s latest quarterly Inflation Report, Sir Mervyn King said that while the UK is unlikely to have entered recession, it is ?still steering a course through choppy waters?. The Bank said that the economy is likely to grow by about 1 per cent this year, but said that the biggest risk to recovery stems from developments in the eurozone and that no one can fully prepare for unforeseeable consequences of a Greek default. ?Both the Government and the Bank together ? and I am sure the financial sector ? have been considering a range of possible outcomes and making contingency plans, but I?m not going to go into detail on that,? he said. Sir Merv

Last updated February 15 2012 12:46PM

Source: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3320916.ece

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