TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, 13 February 2007 — Iran yesterday angrily dismissed as “baseless” US charges it was arming Shiite militias in Iraq, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warning any attack on his country “would be severely punished.” In a rare interview with the US media given amid mounting tensions with the Islamic republic’s arch-enemy in Washington, Ahmadinejad told ABC television that that he did not fear a US attack.
“Fear? Why should we be afraid? First, the possibility is very low,” he said the day after the United States accused Iranian agents of smuggling armor-piercing bombs into war-torn Iraq. “Our nation has made it clear that anyone who wants to attack our country will be severely punished,” Ahmadinejad added.
While the Iranian leader sidestepped US accusations that Iran is supplying potent weapons to Iraq insurgents, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini categorically rejected the charge. “The US accusations from the past months concerning Iran’s implication in the troubles in Iraq are without foundation,” Hosseini said. “They have made these allegations with the aim of creating propaganda.”
An anonymous group of senior US officials had shown journalists in Baghdad what they said was proof that Iranian agents have smuggled weapons to Iraq, including “explosively formed penetrators,” a form of roadside bomb. These bombs, they said, have killed 170 American and allied troops since May 2004. The defense officials refused to allow reporters to name them or record their briefing, but released pictures of alleged Iranian arms.
The allegations were the most specific of a string of accusations the United States has leveled over Iran’s role in Iraq, largely focused on its alleged material support for Shiite militias. But Ahmadinejad instead lambasted the presence of US-led foreign troops in Iraq, saying instability there would hurt all countries in the region.
“We shy away from any kind of conflict, any kind of bloodshed,” the Iranian leader said. “That’s why we’re opposed to the presence of Americans.” Ahmadinejad added: “We tell them to leave the country and any other foreigner should leave the country.” “There should be none in Iraq, and you see, we will have peace in Iraq.”
Iran said Switzerland had drawn up an offer to ease the standoff between Tehran and the West over the Islamic republic’s controversial nuclear program. “We still do not have the contents of what the Swiss have proposed but if these propositions guarantee the right of Iran to nuclear materials this can be examined,” said Hosseini.
It was the first time such an approach by Switzerland, which represents US interests in Tehran in the absence of an American embassy, had been evoked by Iranian officials. A diplomat at the Swiss embassy declined to comment. “We are due to officially receive this plan, perhaps our officials including (chief nuclear negotiator Ali) Larijani have already received it,” Hosseini told reporters. “They must examine the details and the technical conditions but we are ready to consider any plan which guarantees our rights.”
