Rice says US will not give green light to Israel to attack Iran
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New york, March 14, IRNA
Iran-US-Rice
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here Sunday that Washington will not give green light to Israel to attack iran.
ABC television Network quoted Rice as saying that the US government will not authorize any such step. "It is clear that we will thread the diplomatic path," Rice added.
She emphasized that the US government has not given its approval to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon for a military attack on Iran.
"Right now the onus is on Iran to carry out what it has to.
Invariably the US president has all the options at his disposal, but we strongly believe that the issue of Iran's nuclear activities could be resolved through diplomacy," she said.
London's Sunday times reported on Sunday that Israel has drawn up plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iranian nuclear nstallations if diplomacy fails to halt Tehran's atomic programmed.
The newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and his inner cabinet had given "initial authorization" for a unilateral attack on Iran at a private meeting last month.
U.S. officials have indicated they would not stand in Israel's way if international diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's peaceful nuclear projects fail, the paper said.
"If all efforts to persuade Iran to drop its plans to produce nuclear weapons should fail, the U.S. administration will authorize Israel to attack," the paper quoted an Israeli security source as saying.
It said Israeli forces had been simulating attacks on a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the last few months.
Tehran says it is prepared to confront any threats and that it would protect its nuclear sites.
President Mohammad Khatami in February 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 who had gathered at a famous square here to mark the 26th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
The president also denounced 'the slanders of the American rulers against the Iranian nation and the establishment', saying they were aimed at 'putting a cover on the failures of an extremist US policy'.
Israel is believed to be the only country in the region with nuclear weapons, though it has not confirmed or denied their existence.
"We will defend our nuclear sites with all our strength and we are ready to ward off any possible aggression," Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani told the semi-official INSA students news agency on Saturday.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said in January that there was concern Israel might attack Iran if it "became convinced the Iranians had significant nuclear capability".
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