Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday threatened
"severe" retaliation if the United States attacked his country,
which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear
program.
"They realize that if they make such a mistake the retaliation
of Iran would be severe and they will repent," Ahmadinejad told a
news conference in the United Arab Emirates. He was speaking
through an interpreter.
"All people know they cannot strike us. Iran is capable of
defending itself. It is a strong country," said Ahmadinejad.
He said the West could not stop Teheran pursuing its nuclear
energy program. "Superpowers cannot prevent us from owning this
energy."
The Iranian president's comments followed those on Friday by US
Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said from the deck of an aircraft
carrier in the Persian Gulf that the US and its allies would
prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and dominating the
region.
The US, which has a strong military presence in the Gulf,
accuses Iran of wanting to produce nuclear weapons and has sought
tougher UN sanctions against Teheran. Iran says it wants only to
generate electricity to allow more oil exports.
Using stronger language than on Sunday when he called for US
troops to leave the region, Ahmadinejad said Gulf countries should
"get rid of" foreign forces, which he blamed for insecurity in the
region.
"We in the Persian Gulf are faced by difficulties and enemies.
Those do not want the region to live in safety... peace can be
achieved by getting rid of these forces," he said.
"They intervene in the region and make it insecure. They claim
that lack of security is the reason for their presence (but) the
problem is the intervention of foreign powers."
Ahmadinejad was speaking during a trip to the UAE, an ally of
Washington, just days after a visit by Cheney.
Cheney met officials from the UAE and its larger neighbor Saudi
Arabia to discuss issues including Iran, which he has described as
a major concern to Sunni Arab states.
Dubai-based analyst Mustafa Alani said Teheran was trying to
forge regional cooperation around joint interests and to push for
an end to foreign troops in the region, a demand that Arab Gulf
states would not support.
"The disappearance of the Americans in the region will make Iran
emerge as a super regional power, this is a demand linked to their
(Iranians) strategic ambitions," he said. "But they (Arab states)
need foreign support in the region because there is a deep mistrust
in the Iranians."
The UAE, which with its Gulf Arab neighbors has expressed
concern about Teheran's nuclear plans, on Sunday voiced support for
a moderate approach to Iran's crisis with the West.
Ahmadinejad's visit to the UAE is the first by an Iranian head
of state since its creation in 1971.
The UAE and Teheran have full diplomatic ties and are major
trade partners despite a three-decade dispute over three strategic
islands near the entrance to the Gulf, through which a third of the
world's sea-borne crude oil supplies pass.
Tension between the United States and Iran has raised regional
fears of a possible military confrontation that could hit Gulf
economies and threaten vital oil exports.
Ahmadinejad said Iran had agreed to talk to the United States
about Iraq to help the Iraqi people. The White House said on Sunday
that US and Iranian officials would meet in the next few weeks in
Baghdad about security in Iraq.
"They know that their plans have failed in Iraq, their vision is
wrong. As long as you are plotting against the Iraqi people,
failure will be there day after day," said Ahmadinejad.
(China Daily May 15, 2007)
