Tehran, June 04: Iran's supreme leader shrugged off US warnings to his country, saying today any nation that invaded Iran would be committing suicide. "US threats are not new," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told tens of thousands of people who had assembled to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the death of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
US officials have accused Iran of harbouring senior figures of the al-Qaida terror group and have expressed strong suspicions that it is secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. The comments have provoked reports that Washington might be planning to attack Iran, as it levelled similar charges against Iraq. But US President George W Bush has denied such speculation.
Addressing the crowd outside the shrine to Ayatollah Khomeini in south Tehran, Khamenei said today: "a military attack against Iran - a great nation with youth ready to defend their country - would be suicide for the attacker."
"The Iranian nation knows, and the enemy should also know, that the authorities of the Islamic republic will not subject, or push, the country toward war with anybody. We don't welcome war," Khamenei said.
"But if somebody chooses to go to war against our country, this nation will confront it strongly and resolutely," he said.
The crowd responded with chants of "we sacrifice our blood for our leader."
Bureau Report