Delegates at the Church of Scotland’s general assembly have been urged to support a resolution calling on Britain and the United States to preserve peace in the Middle East and to take no further action that could result in a military conflict with Iran.
The call comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose father was an ordained Scottish church minister, was due to speak at the annual assembly in Edinburgh. “We will strongly urge the British government to do everything in its power to discourage the American government from undertaking any form of military strike against Iran,” said Morag Mylne, convenor of the Church and Society Council (CSC) of the Scottish church. “And if the Americans ignore that advice, then Britain must make clear its strong opposition for such a move, either by the USA as a strike or by Israel as a pre-emptive move against Iran.” Both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which the church opposed, are said to have a special significance in Scotland as more Scottish troops are involved in combat operations than at any time since the Second World War. While Scots make up about 10 percent of the personnel in the British Army and 8 percent of Britain’s population, Scottish troops have sustained 16 percent of the combat fatalities.