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US has Iran war plans
16/04/2006 22:02 - (SA)
Washington / Tehran - The US has prepared several plans to attack Iran since 2003, reported a former intelligence expert with the US military on Sunday in the Washington Post.
According to security analyst William Arkin, the US central command has been devising war scenarios with Iran at least since May 2003, shortly after the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq.
One of the possible campaigns, entitled TIRANNT ("theater Iran near term") dealt with clash of US and Iranian ground troops, taking into account US experiences in its recent Iraq invasion, Arkin said.
In addition, the US drew up plans for missile attacks on Iran as well as held war games in co-operation with Britain "under a Caspian Sea scenario that could also pave the way for northern operations against Iran".
In response to reported US military threats, Iranian foreign minister Manuchehr Mottaki said the US was not "in a position to start another regional crisis" due to its problematic involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Diplomacy
State news-agency IRNA quoted Mottaki as saying on Sunday that Iran still wanted to settle the nuclear dispute with the West through diplomacy.
"We are still after settling the dispute through diplomacy, but it is illogical to expect Iran to be committed to a (Nuclear Non-Proliferation) treaty (NPT) while being deprived of its advantages," Mottaki said.
"If Iran gave in now, then tomorrow the same political pressures would be imposed on other non-aligned countries," the foreign minister added.
Former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani also dismissed the possibility of a US assault against his country, stressing that the UN security council has not passed any unanimous resolution against Iran so far.
"If the United States launches a military strike against Iran, that would be neither in its interest nor in the interest of the whole region," he said during a press conference held on Sunday with Syrian vice-president Farouk al-Sharaa.
He said he believed that the US is "incapable of taking a risk or of engaging in a new war in the region without discussing the subject seriously". Psychological war
Rafsanjani said the US was launching a psychological war against Iran.
Rafsanjani, who lost to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential elections, heads the expediency council, a powerful body that arbitrates between Iran's parliament and its clerical hierarchy.
United Nations General-Secretary Kofi Annan in an interview with Spanish daily ABC also warned against a US attack on Iran, saying "a military operation would bring no solution", and stressed continued negotiations as the best way forward. - Sapa-dpa
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