BBC: Iran offered to end Iraq attacks for nuke deal

And Obama plans to turn the other cheek, raw as it already is.

Iran offered to stop attacking troops in Iraq if the West dropped opposition to its nuclear programme, a top British official said in comments to be broadcast on Saturday.

Sir John Sawers, Britain's current ambassador to the United Nations, told the BBC that Iranian officials had privately admitted their role in roadside bomb attacks on British and US troops.

But the proposed deal, floated in teatime meetings at London hotels, was rejected by the British government.

"The Iranians wanted to be able to strike a deal whereby they stopped killing our forces in Iraq in return for them being allowed to carry on with their nuclear programme," Sawers told the BBC.