Iran warns US against attack
2005-01-23 14:20
Tehran - Iran said on Sunday a US military strike against it would be a strategic blunder but brushed aside tough talk from Washington as psychological warfare rather than a real threat.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said top US administration officials didn't find any friends around the world when they issued threats suggesting the United States may be considering military action against Iran.
US President George W Bush said on Monday his administration won't rule out the possibility of using military force against Iran over its controversial nuclear program and Vice President Dick Cheney said on Thursday that Iran "is right at the top of the list" of world trouble spots.
Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice made clear that American differences with Iran go well beyond its nuclear program.
"It's really hard to find common ground with a government that thinks Israel should be extinguished," she told senators.
"We consider such remarks a psychological war," Asefi told reporters on Sunday. "We think the possibility (of a US attack) is very low unless someone wants to commit a very big strategic blunder."
President Mohammad Khatami said on Thursday Iran had plans to defend itself should the United States make any aggressive moves but added that the possibility of an attack "is very low" because Washington is preoccupied with Iraq.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh reported in The New Yorker magazine on Monday that the Bush administration had been "conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer" for the purpose of gathering intelligence and targeting information. Defence department officials said the article was filled with mistakes but did not deny its basic point.
Asefi refused to comment on reports that Iran has discovered spying devices from unidentified flying objects shot down by the Iranian military but denied US commandos had penetrated Iran.
The European Union has taken a softer line toward Iran since Britain, France and Germany secured a commitment in December that Tehran would freeze its uranium enrichment program and entered talks on a permanent end to nuclear activities with bomb making potential. They resumed trade talks with Iran this month.
- AP