Posted on 02/09/2007 12:04:27 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Tehran - A top Iranian cleric said on Friday the United States was within Iran's "firing range", a day after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to hit back at US interests worldwide if attacked.
"Americans have surrounded us but it works to our advantage. They are within our firing range in the east, west and elsewhere," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in his Friday prayer sermon carried live on state radio.
He was referring to the US military presence in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in the Gulf waters off southern Iran.
"Would you dare to violate Iranian borders? See what harm will be done to you then," said Jananti, who heads the hardline electoral watchdog the Guardians Council.
Khamenei on Thursday warned that Iran would hit back at American interests worldwide if the United States attacked the Islamic republic to thwart its nuclear programme.
No plans to invade Iran
In response to Khamenei's comments the White House said it has no plans to invade Iran, and downplayed the significance of reinforcing the US military presence in the Gulf region.
A commander of Iran's elite revolutionary guards said on Friday: "The entire Persian Gulf is within the guards' missile range and if foreign forces are to carry out any operations they are the ones to be most hurt".
"In the worst situations we are able to turn the region into burning hell and take the possibility of using the Persian Gulf away from them forever," Rear Admiral Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani said, quoted by semi-official Mehr news agency.
His comments came after the Guards held a new round of war games in the strategic Gulf, where they test-fired land-to-sea missile with a range of 350km and a new Russian-made air defence missile.
Iran, which is under UN sanctions for its repeated defiance of the West over its nuclear programme, has repeatedly vowed it will not cave in to the key demand that it freeze uranium enrichment.
Washington believes Tehran wants the bomb, an allegation firmly denied by the Islamic republic.
Well, I'm kind of liking their defense.
If they destroy the Middle East, we won't have to.
/sarc
The Iranian military became stupid after they assaniated all of the Shah's Generals and other top military leaders.
The Iranian government has been publicly all-but-begging for a preemptive strike by the US. They have become increasingly bellicose and insulting and threatening in the past month. My impression is that this is an intentional tactic. What do you suppose they are thinking strategically?
Officer of the Deck, go to Launch Depth and hover.
Go ahead. Take a shot. Please. Just one.
Not to worry. Hilldebeast and Nancee will meet with them and enter into dialogue and everything will be A-OK.
Saddam tried that.
Been there, done that.
The fires that would take decades to put out were put out in months the first time around, we could do it in weeks now that we've had practice. Saddam also had a bigger army, and was in physical possession of all the oil wells, which enabled them to physically plant dynamite and charges in the most effective spots.
More hot air.
Can we nuke them yet?
A nice Navy nuke can be there in less than 20 minutes.
But in any case, even if we weren't in the area, an Airforce nuke from the plains of Kansas can be there in a hurry too.
Um, I can't speak for the United States, Mr. Jihadist, but from what I know, they don't generally take kindly to threats of this nature.
I love it! We are pretty good with offshore rigs. That's open sea, isn't it?
Yeah, I suppose you could hit us with your single missle. You'd see a cloud of return fire.
Their economy is going into the crapper and the 70+% of their 25 year old or less population needs to have their attentions diverted and their thoughts converted. If the US were to attack Iran, we would be the bad guys. If it falls apart from within, the Ayatolla's are the bad guys.
That said, if we took care of Iran, Syria would do the best Colonel Khadaffi impersonation the world has ever seen.
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