- TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior
Iranian military commander has Israel and the United States would not dare
attack Iran since it could strike back anywhere in Israel with its latest
missiles.
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- Iranian officials have made a point of highlighting the
Islamic state's military capabilities in recent weeks in response to some
media reports that Israeli or U.S. war planes could try to destroy Iranian
nuclear facilities in air strikes.
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- Iran last week said it carried out a successful test
firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile.
Military experts said the unmodified Shahab-3 was already capable of striking
Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf.
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- "The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear
facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran's advanced
missiles," the ISNA students news agency quoted Yadollah Javani, head
of the Revolutionary Guards political bureau, as saying on Sunday.
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- "Therefore, neither the Zionist regime nor America
will carry out its threats" against Iran, he said.
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- An attack on Iran "could only be carried out by
angry or stupid people. For that reason, officials of the Islamic Republic
must always be prepared to counter possible military threats," Javani
said in a statement, ISNA reported.
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- U.S. and Israeli officials accuse Iran of developing
nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
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- Israeli warplanes successfully destroyed the Osirak nuclear
reactor in Iraq in 1991.
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- But many diplomats and defence experts say air strikes
against Iran's nuclear plants are unlikely to disable Tehran's nuclear
capabilities, much of which has been built underground, and could prompt
a swift military reaction from Iran.
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- Since it's 1979 Islamic revolution Iran has refused to
recognise Israel's right to exist and allied itself to the Palestinian
cause.
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- Its political enmity for the Jewish state spilled over
to the Olympic Games in Athens this week where an Iranian judo medal favourite
refused to fight an Israeli he was drawn against.
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