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FROM: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=27027&d=5&
m=6&y=2003&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Attack on Iran Would Be ‘Suicide’
for Aggressor: Khamenei
Siavosh Ghazi •
AFP
TEHRAN, 5 June 2003 — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei warned yesterday that any military attack against the Islamic
republic would be “suicide for the aggressor,” in a speech
that came amid mounting tension with the United States.
“The Iranian people
know that the Islamic republic’s leaders will not lead the country
to war with anybody. We would not welcome war, but the people and their
leaders will defend the country from any aggression with power and determination,”
Khamenei warned.
“A military attack
against Iran would be suicide for the aggressor,” he said in his
speech marking the 14th anniversary of the death of Iran’s revolutionary
leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
Tens of thousands of
people were at Khomeini’s vast complex on the southern outskirts
of Tehran for the occasion — marked by a public holiday —
and Khamenei’s defiant comments were greeted by deafening chants
of “Death to America, Death to Israel.”
The crowd included woman
clad in chadors, war veterans, members of the Basij volunteer militia
and Revolutionary Guards and numerous religious leaders. The numbers
appeared to be lower than previous years, while security was noticeably
tighter.
In recent weeks Iran
has been coming under mounting pressure from Washington, which alleges
the country is developing nuclear weapons, supporting fugitive Al-Qaeda
leaders and interfering in Iraq.
But Khamenei calmly predicted
that Iran’s “enemies will not make war with us, because they
know they would pay a very heavy price.”
“A war against Iran
would not be war against a dictatorship or a military regime, but a
war against people of Iran. But by threatening war, they want to weaken
the leadership and people and push them toward treason,” said the
all-powerful leader, who took charge of Iran after Khomeini’s death
in 1989.
Khamenei, who has the
last word on all matters of state, also gave a stiff warning to any
officials urging compromise with the United States — still referred
to by hard-liners as the “Great Satan.”
“If there are some
officials who go against the interests of the country and the people,
they will be rejected without pity,” Khamenei warned.
“Unfortunately,
the instruments of enemy propaganda sometimes branch into Iran, and
attempt to give the impression of divisions between our officials,”
he added.
“But all Iran’s
leaders are united in defense of the interests of the people and our
independence.” These comments drew a chant of “Death to pro-American
MPs” from a part of the crowd — in a damning reference to
a group of 135 Iranian MPs who wrote an open letter to Khamenei last
week calling on him to allow reforms to be implemented or risk the survival
of the regime.
Hitting back at US allegations
that Iran was harboring Al-Qaeda members, Khamenei asserted that “Iran
does not support terrorism or host terrorists”.
But he qualified that
by arguing “the millions of young Muslims who hate the American
oppressors cannot be classed as terrorists.” Khamenei also hit
out at the “American occupation” of neighboring Iraq.
“You accuse Iran
of interfering in Iraq, but your enemy is the Iraqi people. You say
that you are worried about our influence, but we say we are worried
about your presence in Iraq,” Khamenei said.
He accused the US of
focusing on Iran because “the Islamic revolution is behind the
Islamic awakening of the Muslim world.”
“I tell the neo-conservatives
in power in the United States who think they can conquer the Muslim
world by force that that they cannot.”
Iran and the United States
cut diplomatic ties after the 1979 revolution, and despite signs of
a thaw in relations under former US President Bill Clinton, relations
have again deteriorated — with US President George W. Bush lumping
the country into an “axis of evil.”
FROM: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=27027&d=5&
m=6&y=2003&pix=world.jpg&category=World
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