TEHRAN, 22 April 2004 — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned US troops yesterday that attacking the Iraqi Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala would be “suicide” and cautioned against killing firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr.

“An attack against Najaf and Karbala would be an act of suicide by the occupation forces, and it would provoke the resentment of all the Muslim world, especially Shiites,” the president told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

“I do not think they will make such an error, because if they did they would be caught up in a storm,” Khatami said.

Sadr, who is leading a rebellion against occupation forces, has been holed up in Najaf for the past two weeks, wanted in connection with the murder of a rival pro-US cleric a year ago. US forces have said they will capture or kill him and have reinforced troop numbers near the city.

Although Iran has distanced itself from Sadr, Khatami said that to kill him would be a “provocation”.

“They understand this,” he said of the Americans. “We are against any provocations, and I don’t think the Americans would do such a thing”.

Khatami also reiterated Iranian demands for the withdrawal of foreign troops, as well as its support for the Iraqi interim Governing Council.

“The continuation of the occupation is an insult to Iraqis and a source of the trouble there,” he said.

“All Iraqi forces and groups should cooperate to get out of this crisis, and I hope the just decision by Spain (to pull out its troops) will be followed by the others,” Khatami said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s intelligence minister denied yesterday a newspaper report that two atomic experts had been arrested for passing nuclear secrets to foreigners.

The Ya-Lesarat weekly said yesterday that Iran’s security agents had arrested two atomic experts for transferring classified information. It did not say who received the data.

“I strongly deny it. Nobody has been arrested for transferring classified information,” Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting.

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are limited to generating electricity while Washington accuses it of pursuing a covert program to build atomic arms.

International concern about Iran’s nuclear program intensified in 2002 when an exiled opposition group said Iran was hiding a massive underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy-water production plant at Arak.

Hoping to allay concerns about its nuclear program, Iran has signed up to snap UN inspections of its nuclear facilities and suspended the assembly of uranium enrichment components.

Enriched uranium can be used to make fuel for power plants or to make bomb-grade material.