IRAN:BASHAR AL-ASSAD, the Syrian president, warned yesterday that any attack targeting Iran's controversial nuclear programme would have grave consequences for the US, Israel and the whole world.
But Mr Assad, Iran's only Arab ally, also promised to discuss the issue with Tehran, suggesting that Syria, itself shunned by the US, could mediate in a crisis that has escalated with Iranian and Israeli sabre-rattling in the last fortnight.
"It will cost the US and the planet dear," he said yesterday during his visit to Paris. "Israel will pay directly the price of this war. Iran has said so. The problem is that when one starts such action in the Middle East, one cannot manage . . . reactions that can spread out over years or even decades."
Mr Assad attacked the "warmonger's logic" of the Bush administration, but added: "We are going to have discussions with our Iranian friends to get to the heart of the matter. This is the first time that we had been asked to play a role."
There were also warnings from Hamid Karzai, the US-backed Afghan president. He said he did not want his country to be used to launch any attack on Iran.
"Afghanistan wants to be a friend of Iran as a neighbour," Mr Karzai said.
Echoing anxieties in the Gulf, the speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament warned that the West was "provoking" Tehran over the nuclear issue. Iran's sovereignty should be respected, insisted Jassem Al-Kharafi.
Iran denies planning to build nuclear weapons and claims its atomic programme is for civilian energy. But the country is facing UN sanctions for refusing to comply with demands made by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog. Diplomatic activity continues, with new talks scheduled this weekend between the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
The five permanent members of the UN security council and Germany have offered Iran a package of incentives, including help generating nuclear power if it halts uranium enrichment - a process that can be used to build warheads. Tehran has insisted it will not do this.
The issue remains a controversial one inside Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has hit back at criticism of his nuclear policy, which called it "provocative".
That charge came from Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr Velayati has said Iran should continue talks.
"Like everyone else in Iran [Velayati] is free to have personal views . . . but he is not involved in nuclear decision-making," Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.- ( Guardian service)