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Iran vows retaliation if Israel strikes

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sun Nov 12, 3:24 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's military will retaliate swiftly and strongly if Israel attacks any Iranian nuclear sites, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The warning came two days after Israel's deputy defense minister suggested Israel might be forced to launch a military strike against Iran's disputed nuclear program as "a last resort."

"If the Zionist regime commits such stupidity, the response by the Iranian military will be swift, strong and crushing," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini said. "Iran will take no longer than a second to respond."

The comments by Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh were the clearest yet from a high-ranking official of possible military action against Iran. However, the Israeli government later said the comments did not necessarily reflect its views or those of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 to destroy Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program. While Israel neither acknowledges nor denies possessing nuclear arms, it is thought to have about 100-200 nuclear warheads, according to a 2006 report by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Hosseini downplayed the possibility of an Israeli attack. "The situation and capability of the Zionist regime are far too small to threaten Iran," he said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, again criticized the U.N. Security Council over its efforts to impose sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful energy purposes, but the United States and other Western countries fear its a cover for developing weapons.

"It is most embarrassing that the U.N Security Council, which should be the defender of nations' security and rights, threatens countries pursuing nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes under the law," Ahmadinejad said, addressing the general assembly of Asian Parliaments Association for Peace in the capital, Tehran.

He accused the U.N. of applying a double standard, saying it was pursuing Iran "while those countries, armed with nuclear weapons, deny the rights of other countries to produce nuclear fuel and exploit it for peaceful purposes."

The Iranian president also criticized the United Nations for what he described as its lack of concern for the Palestinians. He condemned the United States for vetoing a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that criticized an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, including an artillery barrage that killed 19 civilians last week.

"While this fake regime commits crimes, the U.N. has not taken a single positive and operative step to restore the rights of the Palestinian nation," he said.

Hosseini, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, also said Iran began installing an additional 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz with the knowledge of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

In October, Iran injected uranium gas into a second network of 164 centrifuges.

Injecting gas into centrifuges can either yield nuclear fuel or material for a warhead, but does not represent a major technological breakthrough and is unlikely to bring Iran within grasp of a weapon.

Iran produced a small batch of low-enriched uranium — suitable as nuclear fuel but not weapons grade — in February, using its initial cascade of 164 centrifuges at Natanz.

Earlier this year, Tehran said it planned to install 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz by year's end, but it would take 54,000 centrifuges to fuel a reactor.

Iran vows retaliation if Israel strikes (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_israel)