World | USA
Clinton's remark a 'flagrant violation' of the UN charter
Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary Clinton that the United States would "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
- By Nazila Fathi, New York Times Service
- Published: 00:05 May 3, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Senator Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a visit to her campaign headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.
Tehran: Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary Clinton that the United States would "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
Iran's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, has sent a letter of protest to the UN secretary-general and the UN Security Council denouncing the remarks, according to Irna.
Clinton made the comments in an interview on ABC last week. "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," she said when she was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," she added.
Danesh-Yazdi wrote in the letter that Clinton's comments were "provocative, unwarranted and irresponsible" and "a flagrant violation" of the UN charter, Irna reported.
"I wish to reiterate my government's position that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nation," the letter said.
Nonetheless "Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defence to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself," the letter added.
On Tuesday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters during a trip to New Delhi, the Indian capital, that he believed neither Clinton nor Senator Barack Obama, the other Democratic presidential candidate, had a chance of winning the presidential election.
"Do you think a black candidate would be allowed to be president in the US?" he asked, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported. "We don't think Mr Obama will be allowed to become the US president," he said.
Referring to Clinton, he said: "Presidency of a woman in a country that boasts its gunmanship is unlikely...."
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| This article on the national political campaigns in the United States is from The New York Times. It was specially selected and prepared by the editors of The New York Times News Service. |
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