A rchive Date
[ 05-06-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iran ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/06/04/103535-ap.html
Iranian leader says U.S. threats not new; attack on Iran would be 'suicide'
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Wed, June 4, 2003
TEHRAN (AP) - Anyone who invades Iran would be committing suicide, Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday, following the Group of Eight summit's warning that the world would not tolerate an Iranian nuclear bomb.
U.S. officials have accused Iran of harbouring senior al-Qaida figures and strongly suspect it is secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program, raising fears in Iran of punitive measures. "U.S. threats are not new," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told tens of thousands of people who had assembled for the 14th anniversary of the death of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran says its nuclear development is solely to produce electricity and that its uranium enrichment is to provide fuel for reactors, not bombs.
Leaders of the world's seven leading industrial economies and Russia ended a meeting in Evian, France, on Tuesday with a statement that said: "We will not ignore the proliferation implications of Iran's advanced nuclear program." The statement said the world could work to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons with tools such as inspections and "other measures . . . in accordance with international law."
One U.S. official in Washington said "other measures" was code for use of force. But another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, played down that interpretation and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Bush had told the G-8 leaders there was no foundation to speculation that the United States might attack Iran.
Khamenei did not mention the G-8 statement or Iran's nuclear program when he addressed the crowd outside the shrine to Ayatollah Khomeini in south Tehran on Wednesday. "A military attack against Iran - a great nation with youth ready to defend their country - would be suicide for the attacker," he said.
"The Iranian nation knows, and the enemy should also know, that the authorities of the Islamic republic will not subject, or push, the country toward war with anybody," Khamenei said. "We don't welcome war, but if somebody chooses to go to war against our country, this nation will confront it strongly and resolutely," he said.
The crowd responded with chants of "We sacrifice our blood for our leader."
Khamenei took issue with the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, Iran's western neighbour, and U.S. allegations that Iran has been stoking anti-U.S. demonstrations among Iraq's fellow Muslim Shiites.
"(Former Iraqi president) Saddam (Hussein) was a dictator, and you are also a dictator because you don't allow the Iraqi people to decide for themselves," he said. "Don't blame Iran. If you are concerned about Iran's influence in Iraq; we are concerned about your occupation of Iraq. Who gave you the right to appoint rulers for Iraq?"
Khamenei also rejected U.S. allegations on al-Qaida. "They say Iran is supporting terrorists and giving shelter to them," he said. "This is a shameless lie. Iran doesn't support terrorists nor does it shelter them."
Iran says its policy is to arrest al-Qaida members and deport them to their country of origin. But Iranian authorities have refused to reveal the names of al-Qaida members it is currently holding, saying they have not yet identified them.
Meanwhile, the son of the late shah of Iran has said he believes there will be protests, strikes and a non-violent uprising against the Iranian government in July, a Turkish newspaper reported Wednesday.
Reza Pahlavi, in an interview with the daily Vatan, hinted that stopping production in Iran's oil industry would be key to changing the regime dominated by religious leaders into a secular democracy. Pahlavi proposes that Iranians choose a system of governance through a referendum.
"Wait for important developments in Iran in July," Pahlavi told Vatan in an interview in Washington on Monday. "There will be protests, strikes and uprisings of (the) people."
"Iranian people will test (the regime's) prowess without needing a military operation," he said. Pahlavi argued that many members of the regime were losing their faith in the system and that the army was also uneasy. Iran has seen scattered protests.
Pahlavi, 43, said he was not looking to reinstate the monarchy, swept away in 1979 by the revolution, but supports a secular, democratic government.
Crown Prince Pahlavi was 20 when his father, Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, fled Iran. The shah later died in exile.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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