Use of military force against Iran “last option” - US envoy
Washington, 4 July (IranVNC)—The U.S. ambassador to Israel yesterday said either country is unlikely to attack Iran in the near future.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, July 04, 2008
12:50 GMT—8:50 AM/EST
US – ISRAEL – IRAN – MILITARY ATTACK
Washington, 4 July (IranVNC)—The U.S. ambassador to Israel yesterday said either country is unlikely to attack Iran in the near future.
“I don't think any decisions have been made on any military action by any party, that I'm aware of," Reuters quotes Richard Jones as saying.
A military exercise carried out by Israel over the Mediterranean in June, gave rise to speculation that it might strike Iran’s nuclear installations.
President George W. Bush reiterated on 2 July that all options remained on the table in dealing with Iran, but he said diplomacy remained the preferred approach to resolving Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West.
Yesterday, Jones said: “I think a lot of people believe that the use of military force would be the last option,” Reuters reports.
A top Iranian military official said yesterday Iran would consider any aggression as an act of war.
Speaking to reporters about a potential Israeli strike, Revolution Guards Commander, Mohammad Jafari, said, “any action against Iran will be interpreted as the beginning of a war,” the official IRNA news agency reports. But, he added, it was unlikely that “Iran’s enemies” had decided to strike that country.
Meanwhile, speaking in Iran’s southern Fars Province, Jafari’s deputy and head of the Revolution Guards ground forces said, “we have been and we are ready to defend the territorial integrity of Islamic Iran at any time,” the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports. “There is no doubt that all of America’s plans are made to threaten Iran,” Mohammad Jafar-Assadi said yesterday.
Iran, which has defied UN pressure to suspend controversial uranium activities, says it has the right to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle as part of a civilian nuclear power program. Western powers fear Iran could use the technology to make a nuclear bomb. Israel insists it prefers a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with arch foe Iran, but it has not ruled out a military strike as a last resort.
Sources: Reuters, Islamic Republic News Agency, Fars News Agency
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