Posted on 04/24/2006 5:29:00 AM PDT by familyop
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's defense minister said on Monday that any U.S. military attack over its nuclear programme would result in a humiliating defeat for the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.
He was speaking on the anniversary of an attempt in 1980 by the U.S. military to rescue Americans held hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The mission failed when the helicopters crashed in a sand storm in the Tabas desert in eastern Iran.
"If America chooses the military option a humiliating defeat worse than their failure in the Tabas desert will await them," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Iran says the sand storm was "divine wrath".
Iran is embroiled in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which the United States says it designed to build bombs. Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution but has refused to rule out military action.
"Bringing up the issue of military option, threatening Iran with it ... contradicts the charter of the United Nations and other international regulations," Najjar said.
Iran has also staged high-profile wargames in the Gulf and boasted of new home-grown missiles that experts say would enable the country to wreak havoc in the vital oil shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, if pushed.
Iran has been referred to the Security Council, where Western nations have threatened to press for sanctions.
Iran says its program is purely civilian and says it only wants to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
Does anyone know if Iran actually has any nuclear power plants in place or under construction? If not, is it logical to make the fuel before you make the facility that uses the fuel?
from the words of yoda...
hmmm, cool names does not good campaign make, hmmm
i bet every central iranian governemnt meeting has the subtle but distinct smell of urine now...
apparently at Bushehr. that is their nuclear power plant, coutesy of the ex commies
its uranium conversion facilities are in Isfahan and at Natanz is uranium enrichment plant, which has had a lot of underground work...
The Iranian govenment has been at continuous war with the US since they invaded the embassy. It's time the US became engaged.
Uhhhmmm.....if I may, tobyhill, it's not the children that are doing the saber-rattling & the mud-slinging;
It's the Mullah's & Government of IRAN.
For all we know, the young 'uns are the victims of their own religion & politics....so "nuking them" isn't gonna do any good.
Humiliation?
How about Israel using Iran for a parking lot.
Enriched with vitamins, minerals and U235. Mmmmmm tasty
Sand storm. More superstition.
"The proud Parents of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
ROFLMAO.. That just isn't right.
And Lines in the Sand, and the "Sick-it-tah" Fleet. Just more Arab diplomacy, nothing to worry about. I hope.
I suppose, but I remember how people kept bleating "don't attack Iraq, why can't you just stop Saddam with one bullet?" It's not easy to get that shot at a dictator. And even if we did, he's at least partly a mouthpiece for Khameini. I think he might be a little too enthusiastic for the Mullah's preference, but they're behind him.
Ah yes. Humiliation as in where our cruise missiles are destroyed when their command/control buildings rise up to hit them, where our smart bombs are destroyed by airplane hangars, our bunkerbusters are destroyed by their underground enrichment facilities, where our missiles are destroyed by hitting their impregnable Silkworm sites, where our bullets are destroyed by hitting the bodies of the Revolutionary Guard, etc.
I had not noticed the irony of that name before.
Right.
We'll be humiliated while we have to clean up the discarded, feces-soild uniforms of the "Crack Iranian Troops" as they run away.
Heh. Our Buildings Will Destroy Your Missiles, Arrogant Infidel!!!!!
3) We don't like to lose.
Sounds good!
OK. Thanks.
I'm surprised that Reuters even mentioned this, because it might remind people of how incredibly incompetent their beloved Jimmy Carter is?
Despite Carter's love for military dictators, his one attempt at using the military to solve a problem failed before getting anywhere close to the enemy. When the attempt failed, Carter simply gave up.
However, as soon as Reagan took office, Iran released the hostages. Even if Carter's bumbled attempt at a rescue had somehow succeeded, Iran knew it didn't face a serious threat of retaliation from the US with Carter in charge.
We need to remember the lesson we learned back then. Such dictators which build power and influence over their people and the region by flexing their muscles and making threats cannot be dealt with as long as we are unwilling to use sufficient force against them.
We should have learned that lesson from Sadam. The invasion of Iraq should have been a clear warning to such dictators that if they continued to defy the rest of the world, they would be held accountable.
It definitely seemed to work for a short while, but the UN and liberals around the world (especially our media) instant worked to make that success look like a failure, because taking action and holding such dictators accountable.
Most of the government of the world publicly agree that Iran attaining nuclear weapons is unacceptable. However, most of those government are obviously lying. You cannot say that Iran's actions are unacceptable yet say that using force is not an option.
Diplomacy deserves to be given a chance. However, if it is really unacceptable for Iran to attain nukes, then force must be used if diplomacy fails.
The time for disingenuous negotiations is over. It's time to call the liars what they are. It's time to set a deadline on negotiations and don't extend the deadline because of anything less than clear compliance.
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