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Tehran says Israel in weak position to attack
Iran's president played down the possibility of an Israeli attack against the Islamic Republic, saying the Jewish state was in a weak position, Iran's state Press TV reported on Thursday. In an interview with Press TV, Ahmadinejad had said "Israel is in a weak position to launch attacks against any other country." He said Iran had made it clear it would defend its territorial integrity if attacked, Press TV reported. The comments came amid persistent speculation about a possible U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West and Israel suspect are part of a covert bid to build bombs, despite Tehran's denials. Meanwhile, a top adviser of Iran's supreme leader said that in the event of war no ship passing through the oil-rich Gulf region would be beyond the reach of the country's missiles, a government newspaper reported on Thursday. Iran, embroiled in a standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions, has said it could respond to any military attack by closing the strait at the southern end of the Gulf through which about 40 percent of the world's traded oil passes. The United States, whose Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf state of Bahrain, has vowed to keep shipping lanes opened. "At a time of war no ship can pass through the region of the Persian Gulf without being in the reach of the Revolutionary Guards' coast-to-sea missiles," Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a senior military adviser of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted by the Iran daily as saying. Rahim-Safavi earlier this week said Khamenei had put the elite Guards in charge of defending the Gulf against any enemy attacks and that they would not hesitate to "confront foreign forces." The Guards have a separate command and their own air, sea and land units. They are deployed on sensitive border regions and guard key institutions and their arsenal includes the Shahab-3 missile, which reports say can reach targets in Israel. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-19 |
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