- TEHRAN - Influential former
Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the United States on
Friday it would face a "bloody quagmire" if it decided to attack
his country. "If America attacks Iran it will be stuck in such a
quagmire
that it will find it hard to get out," Rafsanjani told worshippers
at Friday prayers in Tehran.
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- "America will have the choice to enter Iran, but
not the choice to leave," he said to chants of 'Death to America'
and 'Death to Israel'. "We won't be distributing food in this
quagmire.
There will be blood." It was the harshest warning to the United States
from Iran since US President George W Bush accused the Islamic republic,
along with Iraq and North Korea, of being an "axis of evil" and
developing weapons of mass destruction.
-
- Although not an elected official, Rafsanjani is a top
aid to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chairman of the Expediency
Council, which decides on strategic policies. Once seen as a pragmatic
politician, he has hardened his stance since stepping down in 1997, often
siding with hardliners against moderates allied with President Mohammad
Khatami. "Our weapons techonoloy is not as sophisticated as yours,
but we are armed with a more powerful weapon: faith and the love of
martyrdom,"
Rafsanjani said, addressing U.S. leaders. "We have the logic of the
Quran (Muslim holy book) and have nothing to lose. If we die, we go to
heaven and if we kill the enemy, God will reward us," he added.
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- The latest spat with Washington has strengthened the
hand of conservatives against reformers, who had tried to improve ties
with Washington, cut after revolutionaries seized US diplomats in Iran
in 1979. Hardliners have seized the opportunity to call for massive
demonstrations
in support of the Islamic republic on the 23rd anniversary of the 1979
Islamic revolution on Monday. But Khatami's allies have called for caution
and diplomacy to avert a possible clash with the United States.
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- The News International - Pakistan
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