British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the United States today that progress in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the way to get moderate Muslim states to support any new plan for Iraq.
Giving testimony via video-link to the US Iraq Study Group, Mr Blair said removing the Middle East's major flash point with broad regional support would pressure Syria and especially Iran to stop supporting terrorism and back peace efforts.
He described Iran as "the strategic threat to the region". "The biggest single factor, (Blair) said, in getting moderate Muslim countries to support a new Iraq, would be if there was progress on Israel and Palestine as part of a strategy for the Middle East as a whole - a point the Prime Minister made repeatedly to the group," his spokesman told reporters.
The study group is taking soundings for President George W. Bush on how to change course in Iraq. Mr Bush's Republicans have been forced into a rethink of their strategy in Iraq after suffering a severe setback in last week's mid-term elections. Democrats seized both houses of Congress, partly because of voter anger over the war.
Mr Blair, Bush's closest ally, outlined a plan for Iraq based on building support for better governance, particularly on how money is distributed by the Iraqi government, helping that government root out sectarianism from the security forces and equipping Iraq's army.
"He said he believed the Iraqi government increasingly wanted to take control of its own affairs and do so in a way which brings together the country as a whole," Mr Blair's spokesman said.
Mr Blair told the panel Iraq's government knew what happened beyond its borders was as crucial as domestic developments. A united front from moderate Muslim countries on the Israeli-Palestinian problem and Iraq would make Syria and Iran "think twice" about fuelling sectarian violence, he stressed.
"The way to deal with Iran, he said, was not to back down on our demands, but to take away their ability to exploit Muslim opinion and to confront both it and Syria with the strategic choice of whether to be part of the solution or face isolation," Mr Blair's spokesman said.