Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, visiting Baghdad during a trip to neighboring Iraq, warned Friday that Tehran would strike back against any location used to launch a US military attack on Iran. He made the remarks alongside Iraqi parliamentary speaker Mahmud Mashhadani.
Mottaki said he considered a US military move unlikely, arguing that Washington could not afford another crisis given the costs, financial and reputational, of earlier confrontations. He added that American actions had generated widespread hostility across the Muslim world and beyond.
US President George W. Bush had declined to take military options off the table if diplomatic efforts failed to resolve concerns over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a close Bush ally on Iraq, said separately that his government had no desire for conflict with Iran.
Mottaki expressed a preference for negotiation, saying Iran was nonetheless prepared for any outcome and had communicated that readiness to American officials. He also criticized what he called an inconsistent global nuclear standard, under which some nations claim the right to maintain arsenals while blocking others from civilian atomic energy programs.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.