Iran's top nuclear negotiator says Iran will retaliate and
accelerate its efforts to develop nuclear technology if attacked by the
US or Israel. Hassan Rohani told Reuters news agency there was nothing
the West could do that would persuade Tehran to scrap its nuclear
programme. Both the US and Israel have said it would be unacceptable
for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme will
be used to generate electricity. The US has refused to rule out a
military strike on Iran, but has said it will try to resolve the
dispute by diplomatic means. Mr Rohani, secretary-general of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, said Iran's ability to produce
nuclear parts had made it "invulnerable" to attack since it could
simply rebuild whatever was destroyed. "If such an attack takes place
then of course we will retaliate and we will definitely accelerate our
activities to complete our fuel cycle and make nuclear fuel," he said.
"But I do not think the United States itself will take such a risk," he
added. "They know our capabilities for retaliating against such
attacks." Mr Rohani said that not even the offer of lifting US
sanctions or security guarantees from Washington would be enough to
make Iran abandon its enrichment programme. "Uranium enrichment
is Iran's right," he said. On Sunday, US Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld said intelligence estimates indicated Iran was some years away
from developing nuclear arms. Iran has agreed to suspend all its
enrichment activities during negotiations with Britain, France and
Germany. [more]
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