Updated at: 0651 PST, Friday, November 11, 2011
 TEHRAN: Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned enemies about Iran's tough response to any aggression or even threat, stressing that the country would respond with full force to any attack.
"Iran is not a nation to sit still and just observe threats from fragile materialist powers which are being eaten by worms from inside," Ayatollah Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college on Thursday.
"Anyone who harbors any thought of invading the Islamic Republic of Iran - or even if the thought crosses their mind - should be prepared to receive strong blows and the steel fists of the military, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and the Basij (volunteer) force, backed by the entire Iranian nation," he said.
"Iran will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within", he added.
The Leader said the message was directed at Iran's enemies, "specially America and its stooges as well as its police dog in the region the Zionist regime (Israel)".
Yet, the Supreme Leader reiterated that Iran did not intend to invade any country.
The remarks by the Supreme Leader followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran. Israeli President Shimon Peres said last weekend that such action was becoming "more and more likely".
Earlier this week, Israel and the United States dictated a report to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Yukiya Amano on Iran to find a pretext for intensifying war rhetoric on the Islamic Republic.
Once the report was released, not only Iran, but also many world states, including Russia, China and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states, strongly rejected it and blasted the UN nuclear watchdog chief for acting as a White House proxy.
Iran also said that it would not budge "an iota" from its peaceful atomic activities.
Israel and its close ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads.
Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran mounted since a big Israeli air drill three years ago. In the first week of June, 2008, 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters reportedly took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, which was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations.
Iran has, in return, warned that it would target Israel and its worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by the Tel Aviv.
The United States has also always stressed that military action is a main option for the White House to deter Iran's progress in the field of nuclear technology.
Iran has warned it could close the strategic Strait of Hormoz if it became the target of a military attack over its nuclear program.
Strait of Hormoz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route.
Meantime, a recent study by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a prestigious American think tank, has found that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities "is unlikely" to delay the country's program. |
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