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By Hiedeh Farmani, Agence France-Presse
TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday dismissed speculation
that it risked being attacked by the United States over its
contested nuclear drive, saying that a military strike would be
“craziness.”
“Any aggression or military action against
Iran is an idiocy whose repercussions would hurt all,” government
spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.
“I don’t think that such craziness and
nonsense will prevail or is do-able militarily,” he added.
Iran has repeatedly vowed a crushing response to
any aggression against its soil and an aide to the supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Saturday that Iran would target US
bases and Israel if it is attacked.
“If America and Israel shoot any bullets and
missiles against our country, Iranian armed forces will target the
heart of Israel and 32 US bases in the region before the dust from
this attack has settled,” the Fars news agency quoted Mojtaba
Zolnoor as saying.
The United States and its top regional ally
Israel have never ruled out attacking Iran over its nuclear drive,
which the West fears could be aimed at making nuclear weapons.
There has been concern an attack against Iran
could be imminent after it emerged Israel had carried out maneuvers
in Greece that were effectively practice runs for a potential strike
against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Tensions over the nuclear standoff have surged
again in recent days after Iran test-fired a broadside of
missiles—including one it says brings Israel within range—in war
games that provoked international concern.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has
also warned that if the United States or its regional ally Israel
attacks Iran, “then our response to them will be harsh and
devastating.”
On Wednesday, Tehran said it test-fired its
Shahab-3 missile—the longest-range weapon in its arsenal—and
eight other missiles, adding it fired more missiles on Thursday in
land maneuvers at night and naval war games by day.
Mottaki described the missile firing as a show
of “Iran’s capabilities and ability in the military field.”
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts aimed at solving
the five-year nuclear standoff have also continued.
World powers last month presented Iran with a
package aimed at ending the nuclear crisis by offering Tehran
technological incentives in exchange for suspending its sensitive
uranium enrichment program.
Iran has proposed its own package—a more
all-embracing attempt to solve the problems of the world including
the nuclear standoff—and has made much of the common ground
between the two proposals.
Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is to
meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana—who leads the talks on
behalf of world powers—in Geneva on July 19, in their latest
effort to break the deadlock, Iranian officials said.
Elham again insisted that Iran would not give up
enriching uranium, saying “no issue depriving our people of their
rights can be debated. We will never accept any preconditions for
negotiations.”
Western powers fear Tehran could use the process
to make a nuclear weapon but Iran rejects the accusations insisting
its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating energy for a
growing population.
Indeed, Elham said it was the world powers who
had changed their position and implied he believed they had dropped
their demand for a suspension.
“They themselves have retreated from their
positions and became aware that such a request [for suspension] is
an illogical one. Thus they have taken a rational move,” he said.
“The US position is showing that they are
taking a logical path,” he added, without giving further details.
However, the offer handed to Iran by Solana last
month makes it clear that Iran must suspend enrichment for full
negotiations on the incentives package to begin.
Iran has already responded to the offer in a
document that has yet to be published but has been described by
Solana as a “complicated and difficult letter that must be
thoroughly analyzed.”
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