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Iran-US N-row : Teheran threatens pre-emptive strike against US forces |
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In a marked escalation of a war of words between Iran and its arch enemies, Israel and the United States, Teheran has for the first time threatened a pre-emptive strike against US troops in the region. Asked if Iran would respond to a US attack on its nuclear facilities, the country’s Defence Minister, Ali Shamkhani, told Al-Jazeera Television, “We will not sit [with folded hands], to wait for what others will do to us”. He said, preventive operations are not America’s monopoly. America is not the only power present in the region. “We are also present from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq”, he said.
Referring to the possibility of the US or Israeli strike against Iran’s atomic power plant at Bushehr, Shamkhani said, it will be considered an attack on Iran as a whole and we will retaliate.
Another senior Iranian military official, Yadollah Jayani, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Political Bureau, has said, the US would not dare to attack Iran since it could strike back anyhere in Israel with its latest missiles. He was speaking after Iran last week carried out a successful test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile which, military experts say, is capable of striking Israel or US bases in the Gulf.
An exchange of threats between Israel and Iran in recent weeks has led to speculation of a repeat of Israel’s strike against Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirik in 1981. President Bush has vowed to make Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions. Speaking at a campaign event in Annadale on Aug 10, President Bush said, “Iran must abandon her nuclear ambitions”. He said, the US will work with others to send the same message to Iran.
Iran has, however, conveyed to the top European partners of the US that it has no such plans. Rather, Iran has told the leading European powers to back its right to nuclear technology that could be used to make weapons. The Iranian demands, presented in a document last week to the EU countries during talks in Paris include a call on the “EU Three” [ France, Germany and Britain], to back Iran’s insistence that it should have access to advanced nuclear technology, including those with dual use.
Iran’s quest for N-weapons
Over the past few years, thanks to tips from Iranian opposition groups and investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has become clear that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, In the words of the agency, Iran has “ a practically complete front-end of a nuclear fuel cycle”, which leads most experts to believe it is two to three years away from having a nuclear bomb. European countries were as worried by this development as Washington and, since the U.S has no relations with Iran, Europe stepped in last fall and negotiated a deal with Iran. It was an excellent agreement in which Iran pledged to stop developing fissile material and to keep its nuclear programme transparent. The only problem is, Iran has recently announced that it is not going to abide by the deal. As the IAEA’s investigation got more serious, Teheran got more secretive. One month ago the agency condemned Iran for its failure to cooperate. Teheran responded by announcing that it would resume work in prohibited areas. That’s where things stand now. With the clock ticking fast, if Iran were to go nuclear, it would have dramatic effects. It would place nuclear materials in the hands of a radical regime that has ties will unsavoury groups. It would signal to other countries that it is possible to break the nuclear taboo. And it would revolutionise the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Egypt would feel threatened by Iran’s bomb and would start their own search for nuclear technology. And then there is Israel, which has long seen Iran as its greatest threat. It is unlikely to sit passively while Iran develops a nuclear bomb. The powerful Iranian politician, Ali Rafsanjani, has publicly speculated about the nuclear exchange with Israel. If Iran’s programme went forward, at some point Israel would almost certainly try to destroy it using air strikes, as it did to Iraq’s reactor in Osirik. Such an action would, of course, create a massive political crisis in the region.
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