Region | Iran

Iran will 'cut off hand' of any attacker

Iran's army will "cut off the hand" of any attacker and is at the ready to fulfill its defensive duties, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday during an annual military parade.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 00:00 April 18, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • During a ceremony to mark Army Day in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday April 18, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's army would "cut off the hand" of any attacker and is at the ready to fulfill its defensive duties.
  • Image Credit: AP

Tehran: 's army will "cut off the hand" of any attacker and is at the ready to fulfill its defensive duties, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday during an annual military parade.

Iran is s embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear ambitions. The , which says is trying to build an atomic bomb, has said it wants a diplomatic resolution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action if that fails.

"The army stands against any aggressor and will cut off its hand," the president said in a televised address before troops, tanks, missiles and other military hardware paraded passed.

He made a similar remark in last year's annual ceremony saying would "cut off the hands of any aggressors".

Written above the president's podium were the words: "Peaceful nuclear technology is a fundamental and basic need for our country."

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists it does not seek a nuclear weapon and says it wants to master nuclear technology so it can generate electricity.

"To fulfill its responsibilities, (the army) is at full readiness," the president said, describing 's military as a defensive rather than offensive force.

"Our army is self sufficient ... and is at the service of peace, brotherhood and security in the region," he added.

Parachutists dropped down from planes over the parade area near the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Close by are tens of thousands of graves of those who died in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The television commentator described some of the equipment on show as Nazeat-6, heat-seeking Sidewinder and radar-guided Sparrow missiles. A land-to-sea Raad missile was also towed past on a truck.

Iran did not show off its longest range missile, the Shahab-3, which it says can hit targets 2,000 km away, putting Israel or US bases in the Gulf in range.

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