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Shamkhani: West playing `good cop/bad cop` on Iran`s nuclear program

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Yazd, Feb 10, IRNA -- Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani Thursday lumped 
the Europeans with the US government as `enemies` of Iran`s nuclear 
program, saying they were playing the `good cop` role in a game, in 
which the Bush regime was acting the heavy. 
"The enemies are talking to us in both polite and threatening 
languages," he told demonstrators in this central desert city to mark 
the 26th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. 
"One side is playing a good cop role, while the other side is 
playing the bad cop in order to put Iran in the throes of the good cop
from fear of the bad cop," Shamkhani added. 
His statements were the early signs of unease in Iran which is 
watching US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice`s ongoing tour of 
Europe with increased suspicion. 
Iran and the Europeans, represented by Germany, France and 
Britain, are in the midst of crucial talks aimed at finding a 
long-term solution to Tehran`s nuclear program. 
Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely aimed at power 
generation and strongly rejects US claims that the program is a front 
for building atomic bombs. 
Tehran says Washington is seeking to scuttle its constructive 
talks with the Europeans. 
Rice is being quoted as having said that the European Union was 
allegedly not being tough enough with Iran. 
While the Europeans are pushing for diplomacy, George W. Bush has 
said he `will never take any option off the table` when asked whether 
his regime was willing to consider a military action against Tehran`s 
nuclear program. 
In his State of the Union address, Bush charged that Iran `remains
the world`s primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear 
weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and 
deserve`. 
Bush`s bellicose remarks were echoed by his hawkish Vice President
Dick Cheney who has said Israel might strike Iran`s nuclear facilities
`without being asked`. 
The statements came on the backdrop of a report written by 
investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine, 
saying US operatives were scouting inside Iran to identify targets for
possible air strikes. 
Iranian officials have brushed off the report, stressing that it 
is part of a `psychological warfare` being waged by US officials to 
make the Europeans abandon their diplomatic negotiations with Iran. 
Shamkhani dismissed a possible US assault on Iran, saying `the 
Americans will never be able to unleash a military attack on the 
Islamic Iran`. 
"When they take everything into account, they will conclude that 
there exists nowhere in the region, having the conditions for a 
possible attack on Iran," he said. 
"Iran is not a small country like Iraq; wherever they attack us, 
they will be attacked," Shamkhani added. 
President Mohammad Khatami warned that Iran would unleash hell if 
it were attacked as international concerns about another probable US 
adventurism are rising. 
"If, God forbid, any aggressor puts its foot on this land, Iran 
will turn into a burning hell for them," he told thousands of 
demonstrators in Tehran, who had braved snow blizzards at a nationwide
rally to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. 
"The Iranian nation is not after a war, violence or clashes, but 
the world must know that the Iranians will not tolerate any invasion,"
Khatami said to the chants of `Death to America` and Death to 
`Israel`. 
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