http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/061112134927.fhqs4krj.html
Iran to reply 'destructively' to any Israeli attack
Nov 12 9:17 AM US/Eastern
Iran has vowed it would deliver a "destructive" response to any Israeli
military attack on its atomic sites and said it would continue trying
to boost its capacity for sensitive nuclear work.
Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran was still
seeking to install 3,000 centrifuges by March 2007 at an atomic plant
to enrich uranium, a process the West fears could be diverted to make
nuclear weapons.
His comments came after a top Israeli official refused to rule out a
strike on the Islamic republic to halt the progress of its atomic
programme, with the United Nations still unable to agree on sanctions
against Tehran.
"Israel does not have the means and the capability to dare threaten
Iran... if it commits such a stupidity the Islamic republic and its
defenders will give a destructive response within a second," Hosseini
said Sunday.
Israel -- widely considered to be the Middle East's sole nuclear power
-- is within the range of Iran's ballistic missiles and sees Tehran as
its chief enemy, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the
Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".
"I am not advocating an Israeli preemptive military action against
Iran... I consider it a last resort. But even the last resort is
sometimes the only resort," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim
Sneh said in comments published Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in an interview published Sunday
branded Ahmadinejad a "dangerous man", saying "Iran must start to fear"
and understand it will "pay dearly" if it does not compromise.
Despite the looming threat of sanctions, Hosseini indicated that Iran
intended to press on apace with its nuclear drive.
"Iranian officials and experts are seeking" to install 3,000
centrifuges -- reaffirming a target which would allow Iran to enrich
uranium on an industrial scale.
He added that the work would take place under the supervision of the
UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Enriched uranium lies at the center of the dispute over Iran's nuclear
program, as it can be used both to make nuclear fuel and the core of a
nuclear bomb.
Tehran vehemently rejects US allegations that its nuclear program is
aimed at making nuclear weapons, saying the drive is solely aimed at
providing energy for civilians.
At present Iran has two cascades of 164 centrifuges on a research level
enriching uranium to levels up to five percent -- rich enough for
nuclear fuel but way off the 90 percent levels required for a nuclear
bomb.
Major powers at the UN Security Council are mulling a resolution that
would impose sanctions on Iran after it refused to suspend enrichment
in return for an international offer of incentives.
The Security Council's five permanent members -- Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany will resume talks
Monday on how to censure a defiant Iran.
Iran's chief nuclear negotatior Ali Larijani, on his return from talks
in Moscow, said adopting a resolution against Iran would show a change
of direction and that world powers had no desire for negotiations with
Iran.
"If the Westerners show another behavior regarding Iran's nuclear
issue, it should be made clear who is renouncing on their commitments,"
the IRNA agency quoted him as saying.
"The passing of a resolution of the nature that is being discussed
means a disruption of talks and it is the Westerners who have disrupted
the talks. This means saying 'no' to the talks."
Ahmadinejad on Sunday called the United Nations Security Council
"incompetent, and pressured by domineering powers".
"It is disgraceful that the UN Security Council, which must defend
countries' rights and interests, threatens and makes a dossier against
the states that are legally seeking nuclear fuel," he said on state
television.
World powers will be discussing a European-proposed draft resolution
mandating nuclear industry and ballistic missile-related sanctions
against Iran.
But Russia and China, which have major energy and trade ties with
Tehran, view the European draft as too tough and unlikely to bring
about Iranian cooperation.
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