BAGHDAD, 27 May 2006 — Iran yesterday warned it will retaliate in the event of a US strike, during the highest level visit of an Iranian official to neighboring Iraq since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won power in Tehran last summer. “In the event that America launches a strike from any place, Iran will retaliate by targeting that place,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told journalists in Baghdad after expressing his support for Iraq’s new government.
He confirmed his country’s decision not to hold direct talks with the United States over the situation in Iraq, while saying he thought “the risks of a confrontation are minimal.”
“I don’t think the United States is in a position to create a new crisis for US taxpayers,” Mottaki said.
US President George W. Bush has refused to rule out a military strike against Iran if negotiations fail to calm suspicions it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
Washington believes Iran is using its civil nuclear energy program as a cover to produce nuclear weapons and has demanded Iran halt uranium enrichment activity.
Mottaki denounced what he described as a double standard in international nuclear policy. “Certain countries say that they have the right to possess nuclear weapons, while denying others the right to civil nuclear power.
“The solution to the Iran nuclear issue will come through cooperation or confrontation,” Mottaki said.
“For our part, we prefer diplomatic means. (But) we are ready for any eventualities and we have told that to the Americans.” The Iranian minister earlier said his country supported Iraq’s efforts to rebuild itself.
“Iran will support Iraq’s reconstruction until the Iraqi people are able to handle their own fate,” Mottaki said.
“Iran considers Iraq a brotherly neighbor and it will work to contribute to the restoration of security and stability in Iraq,” he added.
Mottaki’s visit comes amid swirling British and US accusations that Iran is fomenting and supporting recent violence in the southern city of Basra. Mottaki declined to answer the allegations when asked by a journalist to respond to them.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the issue had been raised during a “very open discussion” with Mottaki at a press conference. “We did raise all the concerns,” Zebari said adding that security protocols between the two countries were in place.
