The chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has issued a new warning against Israel not to attack it, saying the Jewish state is well within range of its missiles, a newspaper reported on Saturday. "This country (Israel) is completely within the range of the Islamic republic's missiles. Our missile power and capability are such that the Zionist regime -- despite all its abilities -- cannot confront it," General Mohammad Ali Jafari told the conservative daily Jam-e Jam.
"There is the possibility that by attacking Iranian nuclear sites the enemy wants to delay our nuclear activities, but any interruption would be very short since Iranian scientific ability is different from that of Syria and Iraq."
Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, formerly Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, weighed in on Saturday and said the country was ready for anything. "Iran is always ready for any kind of action," Larijani was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
General Jafari also warned that Iran could wreak havoc with the support of anti-Israeli groups Hamas and Hizbullah. "Revolutionary Muslims, whether Shiite or Sunni, see the US and Israel attack against Islamic Iran as an attack on the Islamic world and thus defence will be on their mind without a doubt," he told the daily.
Iran, number two in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has said that using oil as weapon is not on its agenda -- but has also not ruled it out. "It is natural that when a country is attacked it uses all of its capabilities against the enemy, and definitely our control of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would be one of our actions," Jafari said.
"Certainly if there is fighting... the scope will be extended to oil, meaning its price will increase drastically. This will deter our enemies from taking action against Iran."
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
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