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Iran vows 'crushing response' if U.S. or Israel attack nuclear facilities |
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Monday, 02 January 2006 |
 Associated Press - Iran warned on Sunday of a "crushing" response if its nuclear and military facilities were attacked by the U.S. or Israel.
Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said, however, that talk of such an attack most likely was "psychological warfare."
"Iran has prepared itself ... they will get a crushing response if they
make such a mistake," Larijani said on state-run television late
Sunday.
Larijani said Israel would "suffer greatly" if it launched an attack.
"If there is any truth in such talks, Israel will suffer greatly. It's
a very small country within our range. Our (defense) preparedness is a
deterrence," he said.
He also said a Russian proposal that the two nations enrich uranium in
Russian territory could not ignore Iran's right to carry out enrichment
at home.
"It's not logical for a country to put the fate of its nation at the
disposal of another country even if it's a friend. You can meet part of
your fuel needs from abroad. But is there a guarantee that nuclear fuel
producers won't play with you over price or other things? History and
experience show that if you don't have technology, you will damage your
independence," he said.
Larijani's remarks coincided with Tehran's announcement that it had
produced equipment for separating uranium from its ore, a fresh
development in Tehran's drive to control the whole nuclear fuel cycle _
from mining uranium to enriching it for use in atomic reactors.
European media have indicated in recent days that the U.S. was
preparing its allies for a strike against Iran's nuclear and military
facilities with the aim of curtailing Iran's nuclear program.
Reports of a strike escalated after comments by Iran's
ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who called Israel a
"disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map" and his call to
relocated Israel to Europe or North America.
Recent visits to Turkey by CIA Director Porter Goss, the head of the
FBI, NATO General Secretary Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice have increased speculations about a possible
military strike against Iran. NATO member Turkey is Iran's northwestern
neighbor.
The U.S. President George W. Bush has said his administration would not
exclude the possibility of using military force against Iran over its
nuclear program, which the United States believes is aimed at producing
weapons.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh reported in The New Yorker
magazine in Janurary last year that the Bush administration had been
"conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran" to gather
intelligence and targeting information. Defense Department officials
said the article was filled with mistakes but did not deny its basic
point.
Israel fears that Iran is reaching a point of no return in nuclear
technology. Iran has openly said it has already achieved proficiency in
cycle of nuclear fuel, a technology that can be used to produce fuel
for reactors to generate electricity or materials for a bomb.
The U.S. and Europeans have backed a Russian proposal to move Iran's
uranium enrichment program to Russian territory. The proposal aims to
ensure Iran cannot use uranium enrichment to build nuclear weapons.
Enrichment is a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear
reactor or the material for a warhead.
Larijani said Iran needed talks with Moscow to clarify what he
described as "ambiguities" but said the proposal can't deny Iran of
uranium enrichment at home.
"The proposal is too general. If it talks about denying Iran of its rights, no. We have no right to do it," he said.
"But we have to study it and see if Iran's interests can be met. It can
be a complimentary. There is no reason to reject it before discussions
and accurate study," he said.
Larijani is secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's
top security decision-making body that handles Iran's nuclear talks
with the international community.
He said the Russian proposal will have nothing to do with ongoing
nuclear talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany. The talks
last month made little progress, and are to continue later this month.
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