By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
TEHRAN
11/10/2011
Iran “will respond with full force” to any attack − or even any threat of military action − the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told students at a Tehran military college Thursday.
“The enemies, especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel), should know that it is not Iran’s custom to invade any country or nation. But it will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” he said, according to a statement on his official website.
Khamenei’s forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran’s nuclear sites. Israeli President Shimon Peres said last weekend that such action was becoming “more and more likely.”
Rhetoric between Iran and its two principal foes, Israel and the United States, has also risen since the release Tuesday of a U.N. report saying there was “credible” evidence suggesting Iran’s atomic program was being used to research putting nuclear warheads in ballistic missiles. Iran denounced the U.N. inspectors’ report as “unbalanced” and “politically motivated.”
“The Revolutionary Guards and army and our nation … will answer attacks with strong slaps and iron fists,” he said.
Last week Israel test-launched a long-range missile near Tel Aviv.
Israel on Wednesday called on the world to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons while Western powers called for heavier sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The United States and European allies say Iran is trying to build bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear program. The major oil producer denies this, saying it needs nuclear technology to improve its electricity supply for a rapidly growing population.
Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize, sees a nuclear Iran as a threat to its existence and has said all options are on the table in confronting Tehran, including a military one. But it remains publicly committed to a world power strategy of increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions against Iran.
Israel bombed Iraq’s Osirak atomic reactor in 1981 and carried out a similar strike in Syria in 2007.
Fresh EU sanctions
France and Britain have called for “new powerful sanctions” unless Iran cooperates over its nuclear program, but the diplomats said the measures would likely not be finalized in time for a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
EU leaders already paved the way for more sanctions at an October 23 summit when they tasked their foreign ministers with preparing new restrictive measures.
Although the ministers could discuss the sanctions in Brussels on Monday, it would be too soon to adopt new measures, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
The new sanctions could be adopted at their next meeting in Brussels on December 1, a diplomat said. The measures could target the Iranian central bank or the country’s vital oil revenues.
“But if the new sanctions are ready before December 1, they can be adopted quicker through other procedures,” the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The issue was on the agenda of a meeting of experts from the 27-nation EU in Brussels on Thursday.
