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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran warns Israel of 'unimaginable losses' if Syria hit |
| 2006-07-16 |
| Iran warned its arch-enemy Israel of "unimaginable losses" if it attacks Syria and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people. "We hope the Zionist regime does not make the mistake of attacking Syria, because extending the front would definitely make the Zionist regime face unimaginable losses," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. "Iran is standing by the Syrian people," he said of the Islamic republic's sole regional ally. "We have offered and will offer Syria and Lebanon spiritual and humanitarian support," Asefi insisted, reiterating Iran's denial that it is providing military and financial assistance to the Hezbollah movement. The Israeli army has said Hezbollah militants had used an Iranian-built radar-guided anti-ship missile in an attack on Friday on an Israeli warship off Lebanon's coast. The attack marked the Lebanese militia's first successful strike on an Israeli warship, dealing an unprecedented blow to the Jewish state's military. One Israeli sailor was killed and three more were missing, feared dead. An Israeli military intelligence official has also alleged that around 100 members of Iran's powerful ideological army the elite Revolutionary Guards were in Lebanon, acting as military advisors to Hezbollah. Iran is a major backer of Hezbollah, but regularly insists that it only gives "moral support" to the Shiite movement. "We have no Guards there. It is not true that we have sent missiles. Hezbollah is capable enough. The Zionist regime is under pressure," Asefi said, repeating Iran's denial of any connection to the attack. He also hit out at the United States after President George W. Bush said Israel had "every right to defend itself". "The United States has had a destructive role by vetoing resolutions and hence encouraging the Israeli crimes," Asefi said, referring to Washington's use of its veto in the UN Security Council Thursday to block a resolution calling for a halt to an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. "The United States should reconsider its policies and correct its wrong attitude of supporting the Zionist regime." On Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that Israel was not powerful enough to take on Iran and also warned against an attack against Syria. "Thanks be to God, despite its criminal and savage nature, the Zionist regime and its supporters in the West do not have the power to look in the same way towards Iran," the fiercely anti-Israeli president said. "If Israel commits another act of idiocy and aggresses Syria, this will be the same as an aggression against the entire Islamic world and it will receive a stinging response," Ahmadinejad said in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. The hardline president, who has calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map" or moved as far away as Alaska, has also compared Israel's military strikes on Gaza and Lebanon to tactics used by Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler. "Their methods resemble Hitler's. When Hitler wanted to launch an attack, he came up with a pretext," Ahmadinejad said Saturday. "Zionists say they are Hitler's victims, but they have the same nature as Hitler," said Ahmadinejad, who has previously described the Holocaust of six million Jews in wartime Europe as "a myth." "We have two solutions for the crisis. One of them, which is a logical one, is that as you (Western nations) who imposed this regime by fabricating stories, you put an end to it and take it with you," he said. Ahmadinejad's second solution was to have a referendum in which only the "true Palestinians," decide their fate. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #7 It's time for Israel to give the people of Iran a 48 hour notice that they can either overthrow their insane government or they can be the second country to experience nuclear war on their territory. 48 hours, and if the world doesn't see Iranians tearing Ahmedinejad and the Pasdaran limb from limb with their bare hands, Israel can legitimately assume the Iranian populace supports them--and can suffer the consequences right along with them. It's nut-cutting time now, and the mad mullahs need to be vaporized along with any who are in their vicinity. Sympathy for the Iranians? Just as much as I have for the Lebs. Both countries elected the bastards who put them in these situations. They can now reap the rewards. |
| Posted by: mac 2006-07-16 11:35 |
| #6 Could the new mobile interceptor platforms (Aegis Cruisers?) intercept from the Med? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-16 10:21 |
| #5 Otherwise Iran will be even more isolated. / Hamid Reza Asefi |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-16 09:58 |
| #4 Just cross fingers, everybody, that we have a very dense, layered anti-missile shield around Iran and Syria. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-07-16 09:20 |
| #3 So what does this mean? a) I have a nuke and just dying to use it b) I'm pretending I have a nuke and if Israel backs off I will claim victory c) This kind of rhetoric worked for Saddam, didn't it? |
| Posted by: regular joe 2006-07-16 09:07 |
| #2 Remember Granada and Panama? The White House wasn't saying much, then President Reagan gave a brief clarifying speech, while US troops were doing the rest. |
| Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-16 09:05 |
| #1 Yep, uhhuh, right. You want to see talk that people will pay attention too. Start low level notices to foreign governments with embassies in Tehran, that our government will not be responsible for their safety if they choose to remain there. Then watch the action. |
| Posted by: Omomoth Thrish3282 2006-07-16 09:04 |