The British ambassador to Bucharest, Giles Matthew Portman, expressed confidence that a diplomatic solution would be reached in order to ease tensions in Iran at the second edition of the Defence Romania Security Dialogue in which he participated in Bucharest.
'We weren't involved in the strikes, but what we did decide to do was support the American strikes on Iranian missile-launching capabilities. The reason we took that decision a couple of days into the conflict was because we could see that Iran deliberately wanted to expand it - threatening British citizens, British allies and British interests. And there was a real danger of this becoming a very dangerous and widespread regional conflict,' the British Ambassador said.
He also noted that the Iranian people should be allowed to choose their own system of government and that citizens should have the freedom to protest peacefully.
'Now we want to see de-escalation and a political and diplomatic solution. I hope that will come in the coming days. But just to be clear on our view on Iran we have no sympathy for the regime in Iran, a regime that has killed thousands and thousands of its own civilians and sponsored terrorism, directly threatening the United Kingdom for decades. The people of Iran should be allowed to choose their system of government. They should be allowed to protest peacefully in the streets without being killed,' he added.
Giles Matthew Portman also stressed the importance of an immediate peace agreement in Ukraine, noting that economic pressure on Russia must be increased.
'We have given absolutely rock solid support to Ukraine and we've been proud to do so, and we will continue to do so. What is very clear is that we want a peace deal immediately. And it's very clear that there is one side, the victim, Ukraine, that wants that peace deal, and another side, the aggressor, Russia, that has consistently avoided engaging seriously in any peace negotiations. So what do we need to do? We need to pressure on the aggressor, not the victim. That is why we will continue to provide at least 3 billion pounds of military aid to support Ukraine this year and every year for as long as it takes. That's why we need to increase the economic pressure on Russia,' he emphasised.
Also present at the event, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Romania, Willemijn van Haaften, noted that a new government had been sworn in in her country at the end of February and that it supports maintaining existing alliances as well as creating new ones.
'For us there is no doubt that NATO remains the cornerstone of our defence. There is no need to choose between Europe and the United States. We are one alliance and that will remain the case, at least as far as we are concerned. At the same time, we believe in strengthening the European pillar within this alliance. The new Dutch government has established several concrete measures to reinforce this aspect, including spending a certain portion of our defence budget in Europe,' she said.
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