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Iran confident of ability to hit back if US attacks
Iran's clerical regime is supremely confident, has a firm grip on power and is ready to retaliate against attacks by America or Israel with missiles or by activating terrorist allies, according to the latest US intelligence assessment.In his first public address on the threats facing the US, John Negroponte, its national intelligence director, delivered an implied rebuke to those in Washington hoping the West can engineer regime change in Teheran. But as the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing body prepared to vote on a resolution to report Iran to the UN Security Council, Mr Negroponte suggested there was no imminent threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Teheran "probably" did not have an atomic bomb or the fissile material to make one, he said. But the risk Iran could make or buy a nuclear device and mount it on its missiles was "reason for immediate concern", he added. Mr Negroponte told the Senate's intelligence committee: "Iran already has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East. And Teheran views its ballistic missiles as an integral part of its strategy to deter and, if necessary, retaliate against forces in the region, including United States forces." Washington's neo-conservatives drew heart from President George W Bush's veiled call in Tuesday's State of the Union address for the Iranian people to rise up against the mullahs. But Mr Negroponte's analysis highlighted the difficulties of confronting Iran, politically or militarily. "The regime today is more confident and assertive than it has been since the early days of the Islamic Republic. Several factors work in favour of the clerical regime's continued hold on power," he added, citing Teheran's "generous public spending" funded by record oil revenues as one of them. He also noted that the Iranian-backed Hizbollah group in Lebanon "has a worldwide support network and is capable of attacks against US interests if it feels its Iranian patron is threatened". Mr Negroponte said Iran's involvement in Iraq was a "particular concern" but added: "Teheran's intentions to inflict pain on the United States in Iraq have been constrained by its caution to avoid giving Washington an excuse to attack it, also the clerical leadership's general satisfaction with trends in Iraq, and Iran's desire to avoid chaos on its border." While Washington's hawks believe America needs to be more confrontational towards Teheran, Bush administration officials are speaking with great caution. In particular, they are hailing the diplomacy that has won the support of Russia and China in hauling Iran before the UN Security Council. Stephen Rademaker, the acting assistant secretary of state for security and non-proliferation, said that America's patience had "paid off". He added that America was still hoping Iran would prove to be a textbook example of how to deal with a crisis through "effective multilateralism". Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-03 |
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