Pakistan has cautioned the West against attacking Iran over its nuclear ambitions, saying it should learn the lessons from the Iraq war."The West should learn the lessons of the lead-up to the Iraq war while attempting to confront Iran over its nuclear ambitions," Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar warned.

35-year old Khar, who is on a four-day official visit to Britain, said Iran had not taken a belligerent stance towards its eastern neighbors, even as it had raised tensions across the Gulf and against Israel and the West."When it comes to our relations with Iran, we have only seen a better relationship," she was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph newspaper. Iran maintained that it was solely interested in civilian nuclear capabilities and wanted negotiation not confrontation,she said.

On Pakistan's bitter dispute with NATO over cross-border attacks on its armed forces from Afghanistan, Khar said America would have to accept and accommodate itself to whatever rules Pakistan's parliament sets out for bilateralties later this year.A top panel of Pakistan's parliament is reviewing US-Pak ties after the November NATO cross-border attack resulted in a major diplomatic row between them.On the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, she underlined there are "sometimes unreal expectations" in terms of what Pakistan can do.

Despite pushing for direct talks between America and Afghanistan's Taliban for years, Pakistan has reacted angrily to suggestions that it can force factions it harbours to the negotiating table."Clearly there are sometimes unreal expectations in terms of what Pakistan has or can do and what Pakistan cannot," she said. "We have to make clear to "President Hamid Karzai that whatever he and his government do it is up to us to assist him. The objective is peace and stability in Afghanistan. We would love to be on the sidelines, so we could concentrate on our own issues, our own challenges," she said.

On Pakistan's ties with the UK, the report said relations with Britain were strong enough to withstand the impact of the "very consequential" attack by NATO forces at the Salala checkpoint, just over a mile from the Afghan border.The foreign minister said the dispute with NATO over cross-border attacks in November last year, will not derail co-operation with the British security services in the run-up to the Olympic Games.