Iran cleric: Aggressors will get a strong slap on the face

Tehran/Moscow: Israel and its US ally will receive a "slap on the face" from Iran if they speak of using force against the Islamic Republic, a hardline Iranian cleric said on Friday.

Citing unidentified US officials, The New York Times reported yesterday that Israel carried out a large military exercise this month that appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"If the enemies, particularly Israel and its American backers, adopt a language of force against Iran, they can be sure that they will receive a strong slap on the face from Iran," Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University, in a speech broadcast live on state radio.

"The Iranian nation is a logical and brave nation and its reply to logical methods will be logical."

The newspaper said more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters took part in manoeuvres over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June.

Asked to comment, the Israeli military issued a statement saying only that the Israeli air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel."

"They have been conducting some large-scale exercises - they live in a tough neighbourhood," one US official said.

Impossible to miss

The big exercise the first week of June was impossible to miss and may have been meant as a show of force as well as a practice on skills needed to execute a long-range strike mission, one US official said.

"It was noticed that a significant exercise took place - dozens and dozens of aircraft participated," one US official said. "We watch globally everyday, and this was noted."

A second US defence official said the manoeuvre could be taken as a demonstration that Israel is serious about the need to challenge Iran's nuclear programme - and could be prepared to do so militarily.

Russia's foreign minister warned against the use of force on Iran, saying there is no proof it is trying to build nuclear weapons.

Sergey Lavrov said Iran should be engaged in dialogue and encouraged to cooperate with the UN nuclear monitoring agency.

"I hope the actual actions would be based on international law," Lavrov said. "And international law clearly protects Iran's and anyone else's territorial integrity."

Lavrov said Russia had asked both the United States and Israel to provide factual information to back their claims that Iran was working to build atomic weapons. "So far we have seen none, and the same conclusion was made by the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said.

"It's absolutely not right to speak matter-of-factly that Iran continues building nuclear weapons," Lavrov added.