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04/16/2006:

"Iran issues stark military warning to United States"

Iran said it could defeat any American military action over its controversial nuclear drive, in one of the Islamic regime's boldest challenges yet to the United States.

"You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures.

"The Americans know better than anyone that their troops in the region and in Iraq are vulnerable. I would advise them not to commit such a strategic error," he told reporters on the sidelines of a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran.

The United States accuses Iran of using an atomic energy drive as a mask for weapons development. Last weekend US news reports said President George W. Bush's administration was refining plans for preventive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"I would advise them to first get out of their quagmire in Iraq before getting into an even bigger one," General Safavi said with a grin.

"We have American forces in the region under total surveillance. For the past two years, we have been ready for any scenario, whether sanctions or an attack."
breitbart.com


Rice hints at Iran attack
THE United Nations must consider action against Iran which could lead to the use of military force, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last night.

Iran’s leaders this week crowed they had defied the UN by enriching uranium — the first step to making nuclear weapons.

Rice said in Washington that Iran continued to defy the world and there “will have to be some consequence”.

She said the UN should “look at a whole range of options” including a resolution under Chapter 7 of its charter — the move that led to the bombing and invasion of Iraq.


Rice: US seeks enforcement power against Iran
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the UN Security Council's handling of the Iranian nuclear issue will be a test of the international community's credibility.

"This is going to be an issue of credibility for the international community. If the UN Security Council says, 'You must do these things and we'll assess in 30 days,' and Iran has not only not done those things, but has taken steps that are exactly the opposite of those that are demanded, then the Security Council is going to have to act," she told an interviewer April 13.


Britain took part in mock Iran invasion
British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran, despite repeated claims by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, that a military strike against Iran is inconceivable.

The war game, codenamed Hotspur 2004, took place at the US base of Fort Belvoir in Virginia in July 2004.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman played down its significance yesterday. "These paper-based exercises are designed to test officers to the limit in fictitious scenarios. We use invented countries and situations using real maps," he said.

And then we have animal crackers and chocolate milk.