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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran threatens missile attacks on US targets |
| 2007-09-17 |
| Iran threatened to fire long-range missiles at American targets in the Middle East yesterday as the war of words between Teheran and the West continued to escalate. A senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, the largest component of the Islamic republic's armed forces, chose this moment to outline the capability of his country's ballistic missiles. The Shahab-3 rocket has a range of 1,250 miles, allowing it to strike an array of Western targets across the Middle East. "Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," said Gen Mohammed Hassan Koussechi. "If the United States is saying that they have identified 2,000 targets in Iran, then what is certain is that it is the Americans who are all around Iran and are equally our targets," he told the official IRNA news agency. Gen Koussechi added: "We have reached capacities that allow us to hit the enemy at a range of 2,000 kilometres." A wide array of possible targets faces Iran across the Gulf. Dubai, filled with Western companies, tourists and expatriates, is only 105 miles away. Iran's armed forces already occupy Abu Musa, an island claimed by the United Arab Emirates, 40 miles from Dubai. Other potential targets include the oilfields in Saudi Arabia's Eastern province, the headquarters of America's Central Command in Qatar and the main harbour of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus is also in range. Tension over Iran's nuclear programme is now building. Teheran continues to defy three UN resolutions by enriching uranium, which could produce the essential material for a nuclear bomb. Later this month, America will probably seek the Security Council's support for a new resolution imposing more sanctions on Iran. President Nicolas Sarkozy has toughened France's approach towards Teheran, with Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, giving warning at the weekend that the world should "prepare for the worst and the worst is war". Teheran responded yesterday by accusing Mr Sarkozy of being an American stooge. Iran is enriching uranium using centrifuges. It aims to install 3,000 at the underground nuclear plant in Natanz. Once it has succeeded — and the technical barriers are formidable — Iran would need about one year to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reached a new agreement with Iran designed to lay to rest any fears that Teheran is developing a nuclear bomb. But Western diplomats say the IAEA agreement contains one flaw — it does not specify that Iran must stop enriching uranium. However, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, said that any talk of war was "hype". He added: "People need to bear with us." American forces yesterday captured 12 Iraqis who they accuse of smuggling weapons from Iran. The men, who were detained in Baghdad, had prepared and stockpiled an especially lethal variety of roadside bomb, said the US military. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #13 MAGOG will fight a futile battle. They will try to assuage power but will be unable to conquer. MAGOG is doomed. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-09-17 23:22 |
| #12 The hammer of GOD will come down on Iran. It is a shame that the good Iranian people have to suffer for their leadership. It is so needless and unnecessary. oh well. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-09-17 23:20 |
| #11 With the anti-missile weapons we have in place nowdays, it would be a strike from Iran and a butt-whoopen' response from the US. Go ahead. Try it turbanbutt. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-09-17 22:29 |
| #10 The mullahs fought Saddam to a bloody stalemeate over eight years. We had him filthy and ragged and in a hidey hole in a matter of weeks. The Iranians know the odds; they're hoping the Western public doesn't. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2007-09-17 22:18 |
| #9 Iraqi scud strikes did little more than put a couple of thousand of Israel residences - some used by Arabs - out of commission for a short time. However, the Iranians might have an advantage in accuracy. However, there remain professional soldiers in the Iran military who would like to make a move against the Ayatollahs. That would be extremely bloody. The Ayatollahs are unlikely to seek peace, given their martyrdom rites. The US administration believes that wiping out Shiite leadership in Iran will lead to co-operation with Sunnis in the GWOT. Makes sense. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-09-17 22:02 |
| #8 Keep |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-17 21:37 |
| #7 I'd go with shock, awe is not really that crucial. I mean, one has to be alive to be awed. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-09-17 21:28 |
| #6 GLOBALRESEARCH > BRIT ACADEMICS WARN US PREPARING "SHOCK AND AWE" FOR IRAN. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-09-17 21:19 |
| #5 RIAN > IAEA > NO GUARANTEES ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM'S CIVILIAN NATURE [hence will tolerate a nuke reactor for Muslim Azerbaijian]; + RUSSIA DENIES SUPPLYING WEAPONS TO IRAQ INSURGENTS * TARIQ ALI > GWOT:IRAN BENEFITS THE MOST FROM AMERICA'S ACTIONS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-09-17 21:17 |
| #4 "Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," said Gen Mohammed Hassan Koussechi. Chesty Puller said it better. Then again, he was leading Marines... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-09-17 21:05 |
| #3 Instead of blustering breast feathers, Iranian mullahs should be trying to negotiate albeit secretly a 'measured defeat' on their part, by the US. The level of Assured Destruction of Iran will be determined by Iran's 'Use It Or Lose It' decision, and whether WMD warheads are loaded on the first or second wave missiles. Japan bent that knee one day before the third atom bomb would have been dropped, that surrender action saved the nation from total annihilation; whereas Hitler didn't give a s***, and the generals had to plea for surrender to 'save the German people', the last historical mistake of the 'Third Reich'. Eating alittle cheese is better than not eating it at all! |
| Posted by: smn 2007-09-17 21:01 |
| #2 Bring it Iran.. |
| Posted by: Chenter Unimp7361 2007-09-17 20:59 |
| #1 Were the US to strike first, there would be nothing with which Iran could launch a counterstrike. Bluster from an empty turban. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-09-17 20:43 |