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| US Mideast bases within our missiles' range, Iran warns | |
| 2007-06-11 | |
Iran has warned that US military bases in the Middle East are within the range of its missiles, amid increasing tensions with Washington over the Iranian nuclear programme, media reported Sunday. “All the American bases in the region are within the reach of our weapons,” said Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, the deputy interior minister in charge of security issues.
Iran has an array of medium range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres which would put US bases on the Arabian peninsula within reach. Separately, Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel while talking to reporters during an official visit to Kuwait warned that his country would strike US military bases in neighbouring Gulf states if they were used as staging posts to attack the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme. “We rule out the possibility that our neighbours... will allow the United States to use their territory in attacking Iran,” he said. “But if this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points” used to attack Iran, he said. Adel said that some Gulf states, which he did not name, had assured Tehran that they would not allow their territory to be used in the event of an attack on Iran. “Yes. Some countries in the region did,” he said when asked if Gulf countries had given such assurances. “Parliaments in some of these countries have even called for not allowing the United States to use its bases to attack Iran,” said Adel, adding that this issue had not been discussed with Kuwaiti officials. The Iranian speaker also said that Gulf states had now “learned many lessons from the US invasion of Iraq,” in March 2003, and that “officials in the region are not likely to link their fate with US mistakes.” Washington has always said it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy but has never ruled out using military action to bring Tehran to heel. Dozens of US and Israeli aircraft were on Sunday due to begin week-long joint exercises in southern Israel, simulating dog-fights and bombing targets on the ground. Iran has responded by warning that it would hit back hard against any attack on its territory and said its armed forces are prepared for anything. | |
| Posted by:Fred |