Times of India – September 4, 2007
Iran on Tuesday issued a stark warning to the United States over the danger of launching a military attack, saying Washington could never foresee the size of its response against US troops in the region.
"The US will face three problems if it attacks Iran. Firstly it does not know the volume of our response," said General Rahim Yahya Safavi, the new special military advisor to supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
"Also it can not evaluate the vulnerability of its 200,000 troops in the region since we have accurately identified all of their camps," added Safavi, who stepped down last week as head of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Safavi also warned over how Iran's reaction to a US attack could affect Israel - Tehran's regional arch foe - and also crude oil supply from the world fourth largest producer.
"Secondly, it does not know what will happen to Israel and thirdly, the United States does not know what will happen to the oil flow," he was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying.
Washington has never ruled out taking military action against Tehran, and its tone has sharpened again over the past week with President George W Bush warning that Iran's atomic programme could lead to a "nuclear holocaust."
Iran has always insisted it would never launch any attack against a foreign country but has also warned of a crushing response to any aggression against its soil.
Tehran has an array of medium range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) which would put Israel and US bases on the Arabian Peninsula within reach.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the chance of any US attack against Iran but influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has warned of the dangers still posed by the United States.
Iran's refusal to rule out using oil as a weapon has frequently rattled oil markets, which fear that any squeeze in supplies from OPEC's number two producer could cause a huge jump in prices.
There have also been fears that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for the transport of oil.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Iran_warns_US_over_military_action/articleshow/2337336.cms
Last updated 07/09/2007
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