Reply #139: Iran dismissive of US military threats

[ultraist]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/47B14909-8CDB-49AB-B4EC-D6483C16CF2C.htm
Iran has said a US military strike against it would be a strategic blunder but brushed aside tough talk from Washington as psychological warfare rather than a real threat. Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi called US threats a bluff but warned that Washington would make its biggest mistake if it attacked Iran.

"The Americans are stupid, but not so much to make the same mistake which they made in Tabas," said Yunesi, referring to a failed US military operation in 1980 to rescue hostages held in Iran, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

US President George Bush said on 17 January that his administration would not rule out the possibility of using military force against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme and Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Thursday that Iran was right at the top of the list of world trouble spots.

Espionage

IRNA quoted Yunesi as claiming that US planes had been detected over Iran as "part of the espionage which they carry out" and warned that "every action has a reaction". He added that the planes were "nothing new".Rice said US differences with Iran extend beyond the nuclear spat. Yunesi also said US commandos had not entered Iran for reconnaissance missions. "We are eagerly looking for the Americans commandos to come to Iran since they are chicks which would rapidly be picked up by our eagles," he said, according to IRNA.Secretary of State designate Condoleezza Rice made clear that American differences with Iran go well beyond its nuclear programme, saying that it was "really hard to find common ground with a government that thinks Israel should be extinguished".

con't