In an interview with BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, the Foreign Secretary repeated his warning that a nuclear-armed Iran would result in another cold war in the Middle East."They would either be attacked and there would be a war, or there would be a cold war in which Iran for the long term would be subject to these very intense economic sanctions and they would find that other nations in their region developed nuclear weapons," he said.

But he urged against military action, although he said it was not ruled out as an option. "I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said.