IRAN: Iran's foreign minister yesterday threatened immediate retaliation over a move to refer its nuclear weapons activities to the United Nations security council in comments which deepen his country's confrontation with the international community.
In an interview with the Guardian - his first with western media - Manouchehr Mottaki accused the US of manufacturing the crisis and insisted there was still time to avoid a collision.
But he warned that any military action by the US or Israel against Iran would have "severe consequences" and would be countered "by all means" at Iran's disposal.
President Bush vowed yesterday the United States would defend Israel militarily if needed against Iran and denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "menacing talk" against Israel.
Mr Ahmadinejad, addressing a crowd of thousands in the Gulf port city of Bushehr, where Russia is helping Iran build its first nuclear power station, mocked international calls for Iran to rein in its nuclear program.
"I am telling those fake superpowers that the Iranian nation became independent 27 years ago and ... on the nuclear case, it will resist until fully achieving its rights," he said.
Reflecting a hardening Iranian position, Mr Mottaki threatened to end snap UN inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities and all other voluntary cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, if Iran is referred to the UN today or tomorrow.
He also vowed that Iran will match any sanctions with measures of its own and warned that the west would quickly regret any resort to military action.
The escalating crisis could further destabilise the Middle East by intensifying US and British difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and could spell an end to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Mr Mottaki, who was appointed by Iran's hardline president, Mr Ahmadinejad, in September, said Iranian retaliation would come "simultaneously" with any decision on referral by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, which meets in emergency session in Vienna today.
Iran had not ruled out further steps, including withdrawal from the NPT and the permanent ejection of UN inspectors.
"If the Iran dossier is reported to the security council, the additional protocol [ which allows UN inspectors to conduct snap inspections] will be the first victim," he said.
Asked whether Iran was prepared to use its leverage in Iraq, where Iran has been accused of aiding attacks on British troops, and elsewhere in the region, Mr Mottaki said Tehran's actions would "correspond" to western political, military and economic pressure.
Israel, along with the US, has not ruled out air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails. - (Guardian Service, additional reporting Reuters)