- TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has
the military might to deter attacks against it, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani
said, after President Bush said he would not rule out military force against
Iran over its nuclear program.
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- "We are able to say that we have strength such that
no country can attack us because they do not have precise information about
our military capabilities due to our ability to implement flexible strategies,"
the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Shamkhani as saying Tuesday.
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- "We can claim that we have rapidly produced equipment
that has resulted in the greatest deterrent," he said, without elaborating.
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- In October, Iran announced successful trials of its Shahab-3
ballistic missile with a range of 1,250 miles, putting parts of Europe,
as well as Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, within reach.
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- Bush said Monday Washington would not rule out military
action against Iran -- which he has labeled as part of an "axis of
evil" alongside Iraq and North Korea -- if it was not more forthcoming
about its suspected nuclear weapons program.
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- Washington accuses Tehran of trying to acquire nuclear
weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is aimed solely at producing electricity.
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- The United States has toppled regimes in Iran's neighbors
Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
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- "Iran has no fear of foreign enemies' threats ...
as they are very well aware that the Islamic Republic is not a place for
adventurism," the ISNA student news agency quoted influential former
President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as saying.
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- Bush's comments followed an article in the New Yorker
magazine Sunday which said U.S. commando units were conducting secret reconnaissance
missions inside Iran to identify hidden nuclear and chemical sites for
possible strikes.
-
- Pentagon officials have said the New Yorker report was
"riddled with errors."
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- EU ADVOCATES DIPLOMACY
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- The European Union insisted Tuesday diplomacy was the
right approach with Iran.
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- "We are seeking a diplomatic solution. I think that
is the right way to go," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told
reporters in the northern German city of Kiel.
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- Britain, Germany and France have sought to persuade Tehran
to give up technology that could be used to make nuclear warheads in return
for incentives such as trade deals and help with a civilian nuclear program.
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- European Commission external affairs spokeswoman Emma
Udwin said: "We are working with our Iranian partners in good faith
as I trust they are working with us in good faith. We will pursue that
path as long as it's possible and fruitful to do so."
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- Russia defended Iran, its key nuclear energy market in
the Middle East, where it has been building a nuclear reactor since the
early 1990s in a $1-billion project.
-
- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax
news agency as saying: "I have no grounds to believe that the situation
will get out of control and that the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear
program will be changed.
-
- "Russia and Iran have a specific dialogue going
on to make sure Iran's nuclear program stays entirely peaceful."
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- Iran's Mehr news agency, which analysts say has close
ties to the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ridiculed
U.S. attempts to destabilize Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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- "The United States is well aware that Iran has strongly
withstood U.S. pressure for over 25 years ... Today, the Islamic Republic
has acquired massive military might, the dimensions of which still remain
unknown, and is prepared to attack any intruder with a fearsome rain of
fire and death," it said.
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