(Agencies/China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-20 07:21

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks about his 4th development plan in Tehran September 18, 2007. [Reuters]

The deputy commander of Iran's air force said yesterday that plans have been drawn up to bomb Israel if the Jewish state attacks Iran, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.

The announcement comes amid rising tensions in the region with the United States calling for a new round of UN sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program and Israeli planes having recently overflown, and perhaps even attacked, Iranian ally Syria's territory.

"We have drawn up a plan to strike back at Israel with our bombers if this regime (Israel) makes a silly mistake," deputy air force chief, General Mohammed Alavi was quoted as telling Fars in an interview.

Israel's Defense Ministry declined to comment but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, said "unfortunately we are all too accustomed to this kind of bellicose, extremist and hateful language coming from Iran."

"We take the threat very seriously and so does the international community," he added.

The United States called the comment "unhelpful" and not constructive and "almost seems provocative," according to White House press secretary Dana Perino.

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"Israel doesn't seek a war with its neighbors. And we all are seeking, under the UN Security Council resolutions, for Iran to comply with its obligations."

The Fars news agency would not provide a tape of the interview. The Iranian Air Force, for its part, had no immediate comment on the interview.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar, however, did tell the official IRNA news agency yesterday that "we keep various options open to respond to threats... we will make use of them if required."

He was echoed by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard which released a statement of its own yesterday that the nation was ready for a military confrontation.

"Iran, having passed through crises... has prepared its people for a possible confrontation against any aggression," IRNA quoted a Guards statement as saying.

Iran has threatened in the past that Israel would be Iran's first retaliatory target if attacked by the United States. But Alavi's comments were the first word of specific contingency plans for striking back on Israel.

Many in the region fear Israel could launch airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to prevent it from building a nuclear weapon.

Alavi also warned that Israel was within Iran's medium-range missiles and its fighter bombers, while maintaining that Israel was not strong enough to launch an aerial attack against Iran.

"The whole territory of this regime is within the range of our missiles. Moreover, we can attack their territory with our fighter bombers as a response to any attack," the general said.

An upgraded version of Iran's Shahab-3 missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers capable of reaching Israel and carrying a nuclear warhead.

Alavi said Iran's radar bases were monitoring activities at the country's borders around the clock and boasted that it had the capability to confront US cruise missiles.

"One of the issues, the enemies make publicity about is their cruise missiles. Now, we possess the necessary systems to confront them (cruise missiles)," Alavi was quoted as saying.

Iran's ambassador to Kuwait also said that US bases in the Gulf would be targeted if the country was attacked, in a interview yesterday with the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper.

"Iran won't immediately strike US bases in the region if it comes under a military strike. It will hit the base from which the strike against it came," Ali Jannati said in the interview, published yesterday. "But I don't think the Gulf nations would allow that a strike be launched from their territory."

Kuwait has a major US base, which helps supply troops in Iraq. The US 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, is based in Bahrain, and the US forces' Central Command is based in Qatar.

Agencies

(China Daily 09/20/2007 page8)