LONDON, AP – Prime Minister Tony Blair says that any consideration of a nuclear attack against Iran would be “absolutely absurd,” and said the issue had no bearing on his decision to demote his foreign secretary.

Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, had described alleged U.S. contingency plans for a tactical nuclear strike as “completely nuts.”

At his monthly news conference, Blair said: “I don’t know anybody who is even talked or contemplated the prospect of a nuclear strike in Iran, and that would be absolutely absurd.”