"Attack on Iran would turn Mideast into fireball"

Source: alalam.ir, 21-06-2008

DUBAI-The chief of the UN nuclear agency has said that he would resign if there was a military strike on Iran, warning that any such attack would turn the region into a "fireball".
The New York Times quoted some U.S. officials as saying on Friday that the 'Israeli' occupying regime has carried out a large military exercise this month that appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The newspaper said 'Israeli' officials would not discuss the exercise.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television in an interview, "If a military strike is carried out against Iran ... it would make me unable to continue my work".
"A military strike, in my opinion, would be worse than anything possible. It would turn the region into a fireball," he said, emphasizing that any attack would only make the Islamic Republic more determined to obtain nuclear power.

"If you do a military strike, it will mean that Iran, if it is not already making nuclear weapons, will launch a crash course to build nuclear weapons with the blessing of all Iranians, even those in the West."
Russia's UN envoy also said threatening Iran with military action could undermine newfound momentum in the drive by six world powers to resolve the dispute over the country's nuclear program.

In other news, Russia's foreign minister on Friday said there was no proof Iran is developing nuclear weapons and warned unilateral action against the country risked repeating the mistakes of the invasion of Iraq.
"We have been repeatedly asking our American and 'Israeli' colleagues, who insist that Iran... is engaged in making a nuclear bomb, to provide factual information to those assertions. So far we have seen none," Sergei Lavrov said in a speech in Moscow.

"The same conclusion has been made by the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said.
Responding to a warning earlier this month by 'Israeli' Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz that 'Israel' could unilaterally attack Iranian installations, Lavrov urged 'Israel' to act responsibly.
"We must be responsible for our policies, especially policies which touch upon the ... territorial integrity of others countries. They must be based on facts," he said.

"You remember the facts, the so-called facts, which were presented before Iraq was attacked," he said, in reference to faulty US intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Russia has repeatedly cast doubt on Western accusations that Iran is seeking to possess nuclear weapons under the cover of a civil nuclear energy program.