TEHRAN - Armed forces chief of staff General Hassan Firouzabadi has warned the Islamic republic’s arch-foes that Iran is prepared for a “decisive battle” if attacked, Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.
“We are ready for the decisive battle with America and the Zionist regime (Israel),” Fars quoted Firouzabadi as saying.
He also warned neighbouring nations not to allow any attack to be launched on Iran from their soil. “We do not have any hostility towards regional states, but if we are ever attacked from the American bases in the region we will strike that area back,” he said. Washington has many military bases in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. US Secretary of State John Kerry said late last month that if diplomacy with Iran fails, “the military option of the United States is ready and prepared to do what it would have to do”. But Firouzabadi accused the US of bluffing. “Over the past decade, they brought their forces but came to the conclusion that they can’t attack us and left,” he said, dismissing the US military threat as nothing but a “political bluff”.
President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday the West should not have and delusions about using a military option. “I say explicitly, if some have delusions of having any threats against Iran on their tables, they need to wear new glasses. There is no military option against Iran on any table in the world,” he said. Iran is due to resume talks on Monday in Vienna with the P5+1 - Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany - aimed at reaching a comprehensive nuclear accord following a landmark interim agreement struck in November.
Western nations have long suspected Iran of covertly pursuing nuclear weapons alongside its civilian programme, allegations denied by Tehran which insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful. Neither the United States nor Israel has ruled out military action to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, if diplomacy fails.
Meanwhile, Iran said Wednesday it would not accept longstanding allegations that its nuclear programme once had a military dimension without seeing the secret documents on which the charges are based. “We will not accept any of the (International Atomic Energy) Agency allegations unless its documents are proven and the person who presented them clarifies on what basis we have been accused,” Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.
“We told the agency it is not acceptable that you accuse us based on a piece of torn paper submitted by some people.” The IAEA has said documents showing a possible military dimension to Iran’s nuclear programme were presented to it in 2005 by a “member state” and “participants in a clandestine nuclear supply network.”
The documents are widely believed to have been supplied by the United States, which suspects Iran of covertly seeking nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran.
“The authenticity of each allegation should be proven first, then the person who submitted it to the agency should give us the genuine document. When we are assured of the authenticity, then we can talk to the agency,” Salehi said.
In May 2008 Iran submitted a 117-page assessment which dismissed the allegations as being based on “forged” documents and “fabricated” data. Iran reached a interim agreement with world powers in November in which it agreed to curb its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief, and the two sides plan to resume talks next week on a comprehensive accord. Iran also reached a deal over the weekend with the IAEA in which it agreed to further safeguards to promote transparency, including a promise to clarify its stated need for a specific type of detonator that can be used to spark chain nuclear reactions.
Iran said it needed the detonator for conventional military purposes. It appeared to be the first time in years that Tehran had agreed to address the military-related allegations, most of which concern alleged activities prior to 2003.