The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the United States as Britain's "most important ally" and praised closer ties between France, Germany and the US in an interview broadcast Sunday. Brown, who has stepped back from the shoulder-to-shoulder relations between US President George W. Bush and former premier Tony Blair since taking office in June, added he would not rule out a nuclear strike on Iran if diplomacy failed. Brown has appointed a number of critics of the US to his cabinet, including former UN deputy chief Mark Malloch Brown, while his interactions with Bush seemed more formal than Blair's on a trip to meet the president in July. Analysts and commentators also detected cracks in the "special relationship" between the two nations over the withdrawal of some British troops from southern Iraq in September. But Brown took a warmer line in an interview with Sky News television, saying that Britain was "part of an international endeavour" over efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.