Iran welcomes Obama victory, warns US forces

Nov 5, 2008, 10:31 GMT

   Tehran - A senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader welcomed Barack Obama's victory in US presidential elections, calling it a sign of failure of President George W. Bush's policies.

   'The next US president should abandon the course taken by President Bush and the American people have to change their policies in order to get rid of the quagmire that he created for them,' former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

   'The victory of this slogan ('change') is the admission of the American people to the failure of Bush's policies,' Hadad-Adel added.

   It was the first reaction by Iranian officials following a harshly worded statement issued early Wednesday by Iran's military, warning American forces in Iraq that it would strongly respond to any violation of Iranian airspace.

   'American military helicopters were recently flying in short distances from Iraq's joint borders with Iran and while the borders are not straight there would be the possibility of violating Iran's airspace,' Iran's army headquarters said in a statement carried by official news agency IRNA.

   'So Iranian armed forces would strongly respond in case of any violations,' said the statement.

   Washington, which has no diplomatic ties with Tehran, accuses Iran of fuelling an insurgency in Iraq by equipping and training militants and also has accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons.

   Tehran denies the charges saying instability in Iraq is due to the presence of the American military and its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.

   Observers believe that although Iranian leaders prefer Obama as the next US president they are aware that there would be no major change in Washington's policies towards the Islamic Republic.

   'The Islamic republic (of Iran) needs to keep its enmity with America so you will witness the same stance towards the US as before, but probably with a softer rhetoric if they see the same rhetoric from the new American administration,' a political analyst told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa under the condition of anonymity.

   'This could be the best opportunity for Tehran to ease the tensions with Washington but through a moderate administration, not the current radical one headed by President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad,' said the analyst.