LONDON - British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that Iran's
"pursuit of weapons of mass destruction" is a threatening to trigger a "new Cold
War" in the Middle East.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary said that
Iran is threatening to spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East which could
be more dangerous than the original East-West Cold War as there are not the same
"safety mechanisms" in place.

Hague told the newspaper there was a "crisis coming down the tracks."

"If [the Iranians] obtain nuclear weapons capability, then I think other
nations across the Middle East will want to develop nuclear weapons.

"And so, the most serious round of nuclear proliferation since nuclear
weapons were invented would have begun with all the destabilizing effects in the
Middle East," he said.

Hague's comments come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, with
Israel accusing Iran of masterminding attacks on its embassies in India,
Thailand and Georgia. Iran denies the allegations.