ELVIS
02-19-2005, 01:25 AM
February 18 2005 (http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=vn20050218083034900C520249)
Tehran: Iran warned yesterday of a fast, crushing response to any attack on its nuclear facilities, saying after a day of clashing reports about a blast heard in the south that retaliation for a hostile strike would be so strong there could be no doubt as to what had happened.
Wednesday's explosion near Deylam was said on Thursday to have been from construction work on a dam. Previously it had been explained as friendly fire in military exercises or a fuel tank dropped from an Iranian plane.
Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted by state-run radio yesterday as saying that the explosion was not an attack, but that any hostile action would result in decisive Iranian military action.
"Any time the Iranian nation watches our crushing response to the enemy, they should know that one of our nuclear or non-nuclear facilities has been attacked," Shamkhani was quoted as saying.
He added that "any aggression" against Iranian facilities would "meet a swift reaction".
Iran said the explosion, near Deylam was the result of construction work.
"The sound of Wednesday's explosion was due to road building operations in the mountainous region of Deylam for the Kowsar Dam," Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Ali Asghar Ahmadi said yesterday.
The explosion prompted fears of a missile attack, and though the United States and Israeli officials denied any involvement with the blast, it lifted oil prices and showed unease about the international confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme.
The US accuses Iran of having a secret programme to make nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear activities are for peaceful energy purposes.
Israel has warned that it may consider a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations along the lines of its 1981 bombing of an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said a military strike against Iran was "not on the agenda at this point", but President George W Bush has said his administration would not take any option off the table.
On Wednesday, Iran's Intelligence Minister, Ali Yunesi, said that the US had been flying surveillance drones over Iran's airspace to spy on its nuclear and military facilities.
His remarks backed up a report on Sunday in the Washington Post that quoted US officials as saying the drones had been flying over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programmes.
In December, the Iranian air force was ordered to shoot down any unknown flying objects. At the time, reports said that Iran had discovered spying devices in the drones that its air defence force had shot down.
:elvis:
Tehran: Iran warned yesterday of a fast, crushing response to any attack on its nuclear facilities, saying after a day of clashing reports about a blast heard in the south that retaliation for a hostile strike would be so strong there could be no doubt as to what had happened.
Wednesday's explosion near Deylam was said on Thursday to have been from construction work on a dam. Previously it had been explained as friendly fire in military exercises or a fuel tank dropped from an Iranian plane.
Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted by state-run radio yesterday as saying that the explosion was not an attack, but that any hostile action would result in decisive Iranian military action.
"Any time the Iranian nation watches our crushing response to the enemy, they should know that one of our nuclear or non-nuclear facilities has been attacked," Shamkhani was quoted as saying.
He added that "any aggression" against Iranian facilities would "meet a swift reaction".
Iran said the explosion, near Deylam was the result of construction work.
"The sound of Wednesday's explosion was due to road building operations in the mountainous region of Deylam for the Kowsar Dam," Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Ali Asghar Ahmadi said yesterday.
The explosion prompted fears of a missile attack, and though the United States and Israeli officials denied any involvement with the blast, it lifted oil prices and showed unease about the international confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme.
The US accuses Iran of having a secret programme to make nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear activities are for peaceful energy purposes.
Israel has warned that it may consider a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations along the lines of its 1981 bombing of an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said a military strike against Iran was "not on the agenda at this point", but President George W Bush has said his administration would not take any option off the table.
On Wednesday, Iran's Intelligence Minister, Ali Yunesi, said that the US had been flying surveillance drones over Iran's airspace to spy on its nuclear and military facilities.
His remarks backed up a report on Sunday in the Washington Post that quoted US officials as saying the drones had been flying over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programmes.
In December, the Iranian air force was ordered to shoot down any unknown flying objects. At the time, reports said that Iran had discovered spying devices in the drones that its air defence force had shot down.
:elvis: