Iran scorns war warning

Dubai: Iranian and western officials were yesterday locked in verbal duels that escalated the already tense situation in the region over Tehran's nuclear programme and the country's growing influence in the Middle East.

The warnings and inflammatory statements were dismissed by analysts and experts who said they do not see the threat of an immediate military confrontation.

"This is another escalation in the war of words between the West and Iran, said Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, a political science professor in the UAE.

Mohammad Hassan Koussechi, a general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, yesterday warned that "we have reached capacities that allow us to hit the enemy at a range of 2,000 kilometres".

"Today, the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," he said in a statement carried by the official Irna news agency.

His warning followed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's alarming statement on Monday that the world should negotiate with Iran "right to the end" over its nuclear programme.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war, he said describing Iran's possession of an atomic weapon as a "real danger for the whole world."

But French Prime Minister Francois Fillon yesterday said "everything must be done to avoid war."

UN atomic energy agency chief Mohammad Al Baradei joined the voice against war saying yesterday that force should not be used yet to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. He dismissed the talk of war as "a lot of hype".

Iranian officials also discounted the possibility of a confrontation with US-led allies despite the tension.

Veteran Iranian expert Mohammad Sadeq Al Hussaini, head of the Tehran-based Arab-Iranian forum, said: "It was a purely professional statement that carries a distinctive opportunistic touch and a quid pro quo" he told Gulf News, saying that France is merely seeking US support for its plans for Lebanon.

"But the US will not opt to go to war with Iran, as it is "struggling with the Iraqi quagmire."

The United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China have backed two rounds of UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive work that could be used to make nuclear weapons.