Iran warned that any strike on its nuclear facilities would draw a swift and crushing response and called Thursday for an expansion of its newly emerging strategic alliance with Syria to create a powerful united Islamic front that could confront Washington and Israel.
Such an expansion appears unlikely to go far, because many key Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia — are close Washington allies and have long been suspicious of Iran's Shiite Muslim clerical regime.
Still, the statements were another sign of the tense situation, coming a day after Syria and Iran declared they would form a united front against any threats, and a mysterious explosion near a nuclear facility in southwestern Iran that initially was reported as a missile strike but later was attributed to construction work on a dam.
Iran's overtures to other Muslim countries in the Mideast reflect its concern about U.S. pressure to drop all its nuclear ambitions. With Syria under similarly strong American scrutiny — in its case for its role in Lebanon and as an alleged sponsor of terrorism — the two nations are trying to diminish Washington's efforts to isolate them.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20050217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_syria_us
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