Posted on 05/03/2006 4:50:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS - The Iranian military on Wednesday rejected a statement from a top Revolutionary Guards commander that Israel would be Iran's first target in response to any U.S. attack, an Iranian news agency reported.
Brig. Gen. Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Iran's military staff, said the statement by Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani "is his personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned," according to the Entekhab News Agency.
A translation of Afshar's remarks was provided to The Associated Press.
Dehghani was quoted by the Iranian Student News Agency on Tuesday as saying: "We have announced that wherever (in Iran) America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel."
His threat came after the Iranian president's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and added to international concerns over Iran's suspect nuclear program.
Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres reacted to Dehghani's warning with a call for Iran to scrap its nuclear program and a warning of his own: "Remember that Israel is exceptionally strong and knows how to defend itself."
The Entekhab News Agency said Afshar was asked about Dehghani's comment at a book exhibition in Tehran.
"Mr. Dehghani was the spokesman of a military maneuver which ended on April 8, and his statement is his personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned," Afshar was quoted as saying.
Dehghani, who served as a spokesman during a large-scale war game by Iran's Revolutionary Guards last month, was described in the Iranian Student News Agency report as a general and by Entekhab as a rear admiral.
Dehghani told the Student News Agency that the military exercises were held ahead of schedule to send a message to the United States and its allies that they shouldn't plan any military strikes during their faceoff with the Tehran regime over its nuclear ambitions.
President Bush has said a military option remains on the table if Iran does not agree to international demands to stop enriching uranium and open its nuclear program to intrusive inspections. But Bush has stressed that Washington wants to solve the dispute through diplomacy.
The United States, Britain and France are expected to circulate a Security Council resolution making mandatory the council's earlier demand that Iran halt uranium enrichment. They want the resolution adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which would mean it could be enforced by sanctions or military action.
But Russia and China, while concerned about Iran's nuclear program, say there is no evidence that Tehran is trying to produce nuclear weapons and oppose putting the resolution under Chapter 7.
We know that muslims dont lie so we should take this retraction as gospel.
Whew,,,I feel better already! s/off
With what? Spitballs?
/zell
When the shooting does start in that country my guess is that these two men will be on opposite sides. That doesn't make either side our friends necessarily.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
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If I were Iran, I'd hit Spain. France came to mind, but they would retaliate. What can Spain do other than cede Granada.
"We know that muslims dont lie so we"
The headline is misleading. It is the regular military saying we don't want part of this. The Revolutionary Guard is a separate force.
We know that muslims dont lie so we should take this retraction as gospel.
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Imagine you are part of the Iranian military. The statement is out there that should the US attack Iran will attack Israel. How would you feel?
I know if I were in that military, I would be real real worried that before the US cleared Iranian airspace Israeli attacks would be on their way, maybe including nuclear!
That is why he made this statement. Whether you believe it or not, you can certainly see that he fears the Israeli military and given their track record in the region, who can blame him.
We should treat it as hot air. What we should be paying attention to is satellite photos, drone photos, and ground intelligence.
Guess Iran decided it would like to keep its small Air Force to possibly get some use out of it before it was annihilated on the ground.
Obviously... as usual, Juan Cole has a direct line in... especially after the Hitch smackdown in Slate this morning.
Funny how they came out with the same backtrack Juan stated... until Hitch translated 'exactly' what they said.
What happens if we're offered a coup? I've been thinking about that a lot lately and our options aren't as wide as one might think. Classically that's a lot more likely than rioting in the streets toppling a police state. Is it likely, and what has to be done to encourage it if it is? I don't have any answers personally but I know a lot of people smarter than me are asking.
I guess the General hasn't been clued in. Master terrorist Imad Mugniah has been put in charge of organizing terror attacks against Israel, the US, Europe and whoever else strikes his fancy.
I think that we, and Isreal should announce that we will be conducting a full force attack on Iran on a given date. It will be everything, and the kitchen sink. Our expectation is that Nothing at all will be left alive.
Yes, we expect casualties. We know that Iran and others will try everything to merely survive. But, ultimately, the outcome is obvious..now it's just a matter of counting down.
If only we could make a threat such as this..Iran would tear itself apart with nervous tension. They may even try a premptive strike. After several unispiring attempts, they would get even more nervous, as we repeat our original intentions publicly.
As the day of doom arrived, I really don't think they would commit national suicide. I think mr adimijadadadadadsa would end up missing...somewhere. a bullet in his head.
If not, if I'm totally wrong, we would be no worse off than we are now.
The Revolutionary Guard in Iran is to that country what the SS was to Nazi Germany--the ideologues/fighers.. Hence in any shooting war, political orthodoxy would supercede military expediency.
I think Rush is right about this guy. Every time oil starts to inch down, he comes up with some outrageous statement and it goes up, up, up again.
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