Gaddafi warns 'arrogant' Iran

2008-08-05 21:14

Tunis - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday warned "arrogant" Iran that it faces military humiliation on the scale of Iraq for its refusal to respond to Western powers over a nuclear impasse.

"What Iran is doing stems simply from arrogance," Gaddafi said during a visit to Tunisia after Tehran ignored another western deadline to accept an incentives package in exchange for full transparency on its nuclear drive.

Negotiators from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - who suspect Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons capability - have scheduled a conference call for Wednesday as the crisis deepens.

"In the event of a decision against Iran, this country will suffer the same outcome as Iraq... Iran is not any stronger than Iraq and won't have the means to resist (a military attack) on its own," Gaddafi said.

"The challenges are greater and exceed Iran's ability to reply," he added, speaking on the third day of his visit.

Like Iran and Iraq before it, Libya was for years pressured by the West over its nuclear and chemical weapons ambitions and capabilities before finding common ground in 2003.

Tehran has steadfastly refused to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, which it says are aimed only at producing fuel for nuclear power production.

The US and its allies fear the programme is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

- AFP