President: Iran wants peace but will confront aggressors available (2nd Roundup)

Sep 22, 2009, 11:37 GMT

   Tehran - Iran wants peace and friendship but would decisively confront any aggressors, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, reacting to comments by Israeli officials that a military strike against Tehran was not off the table.

   'Our nation is for peace and friendship but would not allow any violations against its territory and rights,' Ahmadinejad said during a military parade in Tehran commemorating the beginning of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

   Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Monday that his country was keeping all options open as far as Iran was concerned, indicating that even a military strike against Iran was not ruled out as long as the Iranian nuclear threat existed.

   'Although no one would even dare, [anyone] from whatever country that plays with the idea of any kind of aggression against Iran would be hit by our capable defence forces,' the president said.

   'The country would decisively defend its territory and rights,' he said.

   Referring to Israel, he said 'devil-worshippers and criminals' had polluted the Middle East. Iran's political and military strength would not allow such elements to even consider military options against the Islamic state, he said.

   Ahmadinejad rejected Western claims that Iran was a threat to the region, saying the country's military might was only for defensive and deterrent purposes.

   'How come countries from the other side of the world dispatch forces to this region and increase insecurity and then accuse Iran of being a threat to the region?' Ahmadinejad asked.

   The president said the presence of Western military forces in the region on the pretext of combating terrorism had only increased terrorism.

   'Iran is a country of logic, and we tell you to revise your policies and withdraw your forces as the regional states know themselves how to settle their problems and it is an insult to them to tell them what to do,' Ahmadinejad said.

   Meanwhile, an Iranian military plane crashed at a military parade Tuesday in Tehran, witnesses said.

   The official news agency IRNA confirmed the crash, saying the plane crashed in the village of Vali Abad.

   The news network Khabar said seven people were killed in the accident. Further details would be disclosed after investigations, the TV report added.

   At the parade, Iran displayed its latest military hardware, including the Russian-made Tor-M1 air-defence system, which is supposed to protect nuclear facilities in central and southern Iran from airstrikes.

   Tehran and Moscow had agreed that the air-defence system would be updated, but so far, the Kremlin has refrained from doing so.

   Also displayed were two missiles, the Shahab-3 and Sejjil, which reportedly have a range of 2,000 kilometres and, therefore, are capable of reaching any part of Israel.

   Iran's military commanders have several times warned if Israel attacked Iran's nuclear sites, then they would use the missiles against the Jewish state.

   The West is worried that if speculation over Iran's secret nuclear weapons programme is correct, then the Islamic state might use nuclear warheads on its missiles.

   Tehran has constantly rejected the accusations and said that weapons of mass destruction would have no place in Iran's defence doctrine, pointing out that the country did not use such weapons during the Iran-Iraq War when its forces were attacked by Iraqi chemical bombs.