1/27/2005 10:30:00 AM GMT
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami responded to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's comment that Iran topped the list of world trouble spots by saying, the United States was the country which most endangered global peace.
Khatami, speaking to reporters after a meeting with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, said, "We say that America is at the top of the list of countries which are endangering world peace and security and we hope that one day they come to their senses," adding he thought a change in U.S. policy was very unlikely.
Recent talk emanating from Washington has increased speculation that the U.S. might strike Iran. Adding to the tension, Cheney also added that Israel may decide to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities on its own.
Iranian officials were quick to respond in kind to the comments by emphasising that Tehran would vigorously react to any military attack on the Islamic Republic.
"Iran will retaliate against any stupid moves by Israel," Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari, ground forces commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the ILNA news agency.
Iran has continuously denied American and Israeli claims that its nuclear facilities would be used to make atomic bombs saying that its nuclear ambitions do not stretch beyond generating electricity.
In a further bid to allay concerns about its nuclear program, the Iranian government has agreed to halt activities that can be used to build nuclear bomb material, such as uranium enrichment. Furthermore, it is currently in talks with three powers of the EU; France, Germany and Britain, in order to reach a negotiated solution over its nuclear program.
"(Negotiations with the EU) haven't reached a dead end," Khatami said. "Of course, we have our own stances and we are talking to the Europeans and we hope to reach a conclusion."
Israel wades in
Recent Israeli comments that Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon were brushed aside by officials who stated that the latest accusations were merely designed to shift attention away from Israel's own weapons program and its "terror" against the Palestinians.
The chief of the Revolutionary Guards was quoted by the Iranian student news service ISNA, as saying that he did not believe Israel or the United States had the courage to attack but asserted that his forces were nonetheless at the ready.
"Even though the US and Israel do not have the courage to invade the Iranian nation, the Revolutionary Guards are in very good state of readiness to response to threats," General Yahya Rahim Safavi said.
"The US can not bring security to the Middle East by pushing Iran aside. And if they plan conspiracies, the Iranian nation and its leadership will stand against expansionism with firmness," he said.
A statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected calls from Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres for the world to take action against Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"The unfounded claims of Israeli officials were made to deviate world attention from Israel's organized terror activities and efforts to further strengthen its nuclear power," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"Israel refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put its nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), yet brazenly and maliciously tries to portray Iran's peaceful nuclear activities as a threat to the world", he added.
"Israel's continued trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people on flimsy excuses cannot wipe out the roots of their struggle or weaken their resistance and they will eventually be vindicated," Asefi said.
EU talks
According to confidential reports, the EU has called on Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear fuel program as a guarantee that it is not seeking atomic weapons following talks in Geneva.
Representatives from Britain, France and Germany told Iran that "nothing short of full cessation and dismantling of Iran's fuel cycle efforts would give the EU3 the objective guarantees they need that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful," an unnamed diplomat said Wednesday.
Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment program as a confidence-building measure, but the EU is now calling on Tehran to abandon enrichment and any other activity that includes plutonium making for definite.
The Geneva meeting is the second round of talks on a potentially lucrative trade pact following the agreement to a deal in November by the so-called EU-Big three for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
However, the Islamic Republic insists that the NPT guarantees its right to peaceful enrichment activities.