Iranian Official Warns of “Preventive Operations” to Counter Perceived U.S. Threats to Nuclear Sites

Iran’s defense minister has said that some of his country’s generals believe they should initiate a pre-emptive attack against U.S. forces if they sense an imminent strike, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Aug. 18).

“We will not sit to wait for what others will do to us,” Ali Shamkhani told al-Jazeera, answering questions about how Iran might respond to a U.S. attack on its nuclear installations. “There are differences of opinion among military commanders (in Iran). Some commanders believe preventive operations is not a model created by Americans ... or is not limited to Americans. Any nation, if it feels threatened, can resort to that,” he added.

“The moment the great Satan (America) decides to take military action against us, that moment will be the end of all our nuclear obligations,” Shamkhani said, referring to Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Shamkhani also mentioned potential Israeli action against the Islamic republic.

“It’s certain to us that Israel won’t carry out any military action without a green light from America,” he said. “So, you can’t separate the two,” he added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 19).

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog should close its investigation of Tehran’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported.

“If the case is not closed, it intensifies the suspicion about interference of political motives and pressures within the agency. And this is what the Americans are looking for,” Kamal Kharazi said.

“To show its independence, IAEA, as a professional, technical and nonpolitical organization, should naturally insist on its own technical criteria and principles and quickly announce the issues have been resolved, if they have been resolved,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 19).

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