Iran warns of a 'lightning response'
Source: Agencies |
June 4, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
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IRAN'S supreme leader warned yesterday that any Israeli attack would be answered with a "lightning" response and suggested its nuclear program could not be curtailed by Western sanctions.
The remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei echoed previous hard-line positions by Iran, but take on added resonance amid talks with the United States and five other world powers. Western leaders hope for a diplomatic accord that would ease concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, while Israeli officials say they leave all options open to try to derail Iran's uranium enrichment.
The West fears Iran could one day produce weapons-grade material. Khamenei called the claims of a secret weapons program "lies" and repeated Iran's statements that it only seeks reactors for energy and medical research.
Khamenei put Israel on notice that any military action would bring swift consequences.
"Should they take any wrong step, any inappropriate move, it will fall on their heads like lightning," he warned in a speech marking the 23rd anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Many military analysts say airstrikes alone are unlikely to seriously set back Iran's uranium enrichment and could touch off a wider conflict in the Gulf.
Instead, the US and Europe have imposed tighter sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports and its ability to conduct international banking.
"The obstacles enemies are creating in our path won't have any effect. Sanctions are ineffective. Sanctions can't stop the Iranian nation from moving forward," Khamenei. "The only effect these unilateral and multilateral sanctions have on the Iranian nation is that they deepen hatred and animosity toward the West in the heart of our people."
Iran has called for the West to roll back the sanctions as a goodwill gesture to move ahead the nuclear talks, due to resume in Moscow later this month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on world powers last week to push Tehran to stop all nuclear enrichment.
The remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei echoed previous hard-line positions by Iran, but take on added resonance amid talks with the United States and five other world powers. Western leaders hope for a diplomatic accord that would ease concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, while Israeli officials say they leave all options open to try to derail Iran's uranium enrichment.
The West fears Iran could one day produce weapons-grade material. Khamenei called the claims of a secret weapons program "lies" and repeated Iran's statements that it only seeks reactors for energy and medical research.
Khamenei put Israel on notice that any military action would bring swift consequences.
"Should they take any wrong step, any inappropriate move, it will fall on their heads like lightning," he warned in a speech marking the 23rd anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Many military analysts say airstrikes alone are unlikely to seriously set back Iran's uranium enrichment and could touch off a wider conflict in the Gulf.
Instead, the US and Europe have imposed tighter sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports and its ability to conduct international banking.
"The obstacles enemies are creating in our path won't have any effect. Sanctions are ineffective. Sanctions can't stop the Iranian nation from moving forward," Khamenei. "The only effect these unilateral and multilateral sanctions have on the Iranian nation is that they deepen hatred and animosity toward the West in the heart of our people."
Iran has called for the West to roll back the sanctions as a goodwill gesture to move ahead the nuclear talks, due to resume in Moscow later this month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on world powers last week to push Tehran to stop all nuclear enrichment.
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