Iran army official: Our missiles can reach all our enemies
Deputy Revolutionary Guards chief says Iran can also make Europe suffer by cutting off its oil supply.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Iran nuclearIran could make European countries suffer by cutting off energy supplies and can target any adversary with its missiles, a senior Iranian military official said on Sunday.
Iran is locked in dispute with the United States and its allies over its nuclear energy program which Western countries fear is aimed at allowing Iran the chance to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says it is only interested in electricity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board meets in Vienna next week to discuss Iran while world powers are deliberating new sanctions on Iran at the level of the UN Security Council.
"Iran is standing on 50 percent of the world's energy and should it so decide Europe will have to spend the winter in cold," Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, said in a meeting with war veterans and volunteers in Kerman, according to Fars news agency.
"Our missiles are now able to target any spot in which the conspirators are in, and the country is making advances in all fields," he said.
Iran is one of the world's biggest oil and gas exporters but its economy is suffering amid the global financial crisis and international ostracism over the nuclear dispute.
Iran has tested a number of missiles in recent years that could be used in any war with its arch enemy Israel. Analysts say Israel could try a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Some European countries have faced difficulties from reliance on gas supplies from Russia, but Iran has struggled to find the cash and technology to develop its energy sector as sanctions and political pressure have kept foreign firms away.
Israel lobbied Washington last week for sanctions against Iran, which imports 40 percent of its gasoline from foreign refineries.
Khamenei: Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, supreme leader says
Iran's nuclear energy program, which will be discussed at a board meeting of the UN atomic watchdog this week, is peaceful and aimed at achieving self-sufficiency, Iran's supreme leader said earlier Sunday.
"The Islamic republic has time and again said it is after securing nuclear capability in order to use it toward peaceful ends, including the generation of energy," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with foreign ministry officials and diplomats, state news agency IRNA reported.
"Despite all the pressures, the Islamic Republic has had great advances in nuclear technology and will go on making advances as much as necessary in order to achieve self-sufficiency in this scientific field," Khamenei said.
The new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), veteran Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, has signaled a tougher line on Iran's nuclear program, suggesting in a report this month that Tehran may be trying to design a nuclear weapon.
Iran's supreme leader says the U.S. and its allies are influencing the IAEA's stance on Tehran's nuclear program.
Khamenei said Sunday in comments broadcast on state television that recent reports from the IAEA show that this international agency lacks independence.
He said the watchdog should not be influenced by the U.S. and other countries because that could undermine the agency's prestige and reputation.
Iran denies it is pursuing an atomic bomb and is expected to clash with Amano and Western nations at the week-long meeting of the agency's 35-nation governing board, which starts on Monday.
The discussion at the meeting in Vienna is expected to feed into deliberations on slapping harsher sanctions on Iran that are currently taking place among world powers at the level of the U.N. Security Council.
Some diplomats in Vienna have said Iran could try to discredit Amano at the meeting by suggesting he is a lackey of the United States and its western allies, who suspect Iran is pursuing a bomb.
Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was present at the meeting with Supreme Leader Khamenei, has already criticized Amano, particularly his suggestion in the February 18 report that the Islamic Republic may be working on developing a nuclear-armed missile.
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heres a taste of what a nuclear armed iran has to offer the world
I saw a tribute to 9/11 yesterday and the cameras showed the shock and horror of the New Yorkers. How much worse was Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What use are leaders who solve differences violently? Might Makes Right. Right Or Wrong, My Country. No One Questions The Victor. The Taliban has said they will take the war to the enemy's doorstep. Please take the war to the leadership's doorstep, and include their families too. Don't let others do the dying. Persia should be ready for an attack on their land. Too many assholes want that oil, at any cost. If Persia's enemies knew there would be a nuclear response all the way to the U.S., England, and France, everyone would be nice. Salaam/Shalom
Iran is making these sorts of statements before they possess the bomb and a means of delivery. Imagine their rhetoric when they can actually deliver on their threats. The world needs to unite and stop Iran now.
that everyone realises that the Iranians biggest weapon is it's oil. Turning off the taps will produce immense damage to the global economy which is why Iran's nuclear ambitions have not been attacked militarily, and why Plaet Earth have not imposed meaningful sanctions against Iran. Why the surprise?
I believe cutting the oil supply to the EU is a brilliant idea of Iran. That type of " sabre Rattling" can be the "straw that broke the camel's back" and force the EU to do something drastic. I have an idea, how about a sea blockade of Iran. In retaliation, Iran would sink some of the EU's warships and then the fun really begins.
Iraq can now supply oil to the world. Iran has no monopoly.
'Iran is standing on 50 percent of the world's energy and should it so decide, Europe will have to spend the winter in cold.' - Hossein Salami It's clearly divide-and-conquer time for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who seem to be calling the shots these days. We'll see if he's successful. European self-interest knows no bounds - Talkback poster 'Mark B' in Amsterdam, for example, seemingly would sell his own mother for enough Iranian natural gas to keep his backside warm for one winter evening. Still, I wonder if the Europeans at least will start reacting more positively to the tenuous nature of their energy supplies. France already has a deep commitment to nuclear energy, which could be enlarged. The UK is getting serious about wind turbines. Germany could be instrumental in further developing and rolling out coal gasification technology. So perhaps - just perhaps - Europeans won't sell Israel - and each other - down the river for Iranian gas.
Winter in the cold? I don't think so.. Europe existed and thrived through wintertime for many centuries without trading with Iran... sorry, can't scare us
Allah, Mohammed, Hossein, et al, together cannot protect the corrupt, pretentious, and deadly religious-military dictatorship's ego in Iran from being severely deflated even by "infidels" when the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob decides to judge them for their many past sins (and those planned for the future) by finally setting alight the many coals they proudly self-heaped atop their heads. Neda is just one of those recent coals. Lower ones in the pile are for the murdered Jewish innocents in Buenos Aires. May the good people in Iran live through these coming sanctions and onslaught to claim their beautiful country and citizens back from the despair enforced on them by their self-appointed religious rapists and tyrants.
"Our missiles are now able to target any spot in which the conspirators are in, and the country is making advances in all fields," and in the next breath, all our nuclear intentions are peaceful?
The EU will not be cold in winter, because Russia does not use energy as a weapons, never has, hence why people think Nabucco is a bad idea. It just validates the claims that reliance on Iranian LNG via Nabucco is a bad idea for energy security in the EU. Iran is trying to control the Mid East and become the world only superpower so these issue will come up all the time. This is not the case with Moscow so it is a safer for EU energy security to stick with Russia.
failed before I see. About as subtle as a fart in church.
This lie is only believed by those who think that human rights' protection is alive and well in Iran.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Cut the tree from its roots. its just too hard to trust these person.. the way he think and plans for israel. though harsh it may sound. lets think about the safety of the people