- (AFP) - Israel will "dig its own grave" if
it attacks Iranian nuclear sites, the head of the Iranian air force General
Seyed Reza Pardis warned, reacting defiantly to threats by the Jewish state.
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- "The threats of the Zionist regime hold no value
for us," Pardis was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency, close
to Islamic hardliners, following statements by Israeli Defence Minister
Shaul Mofaz.
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- "The (Zionist) regime knows that the armed forces
of the Islamic republic, in particular our air force, have such high capabilities
... that it would be digging its own grave in the region if it launches
military attacks against Iran," Pardis said.
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- "An attack (by Israel) would have serious consequences
beyond the imagination of Israeli leaders," he warned.
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- Jerusalem-based Haaretz newspaper on Sunday quoted Iranian-born
Mofaz as telling Israel radio's Persian service last week that Israel is
considering an operation to destroy the nuclear capabilities of Iran, regarded
as the Jewish state's number one enemy following the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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- If such attacks are launched, "the necessary steps
will be taken so that Iranian citizens will not be harmed," the daily
quoted Mofaz as saying.
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- "The Israeli regime's war minister must know that
if ever these threats become reality, no place in Israel will be safe for
the leaders of the country, and the Zionist regime will pay a particularly
high price," Iranian Defense Minister Ali Chamkhani was quoted Monday
as saying by student news agency ISNA.
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- But, Chamkhani added, Mofaz's threats appeared "unreal
and improbable" to him, because Israel "has full knowledge of
Iran's capacity to respond."
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- "Whether these threats are serious or not, our armed
forces are totally prepared to defend sensitive sites and our country's
air space," air force chief Pardis said.
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- Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami reacted to
Mofaz's threats by saying simply: "They (Israel) will go adrift."
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- Last month, Meir Dagan, head of Israel's Mossad overseas
intelligence service, told lawmakers that Iran's nuclear programme posed
the biggest threat to the existence of the Jewish state since its creation
in 1948.
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- He said Israel had discovered in recent months that Iran
was close to finishing construction of a uranium enrichment plant in the
central Kashan area that could eventually give it the capacity to build
around a dozen nuclear bombs.
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- And during a visit to Washington in November, Mofaz warned
of the rising nuclear threat posed by Iran, saying that efforts must be
taken to "slow down, stop or prevent" the programme.
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- However, Iran last week won plaudits from the international
community by signing the additional protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty that opens the way for snap UN inspections of sites.
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- Iran says Israel should now follow its lead and bring
its own nuclear facilities under international oversight.
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- Early this month in an interview published in Haaretz,
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged
Israel to give up its nuclear arsenal, warning it fueled a regional arms
race.
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- Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it has nuclear
weapons, but Washington has accepted Israel as a nuclear power since 1969
and analysts say it has up to 200 sophisticated nuclear weapons.
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