Iranian Defense Minister Vice Admiral Ali Shamkhani has warned that Iran may resort to pre-emptive strikes to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.
Shamkhani made his comments in an interview on al-Jazeera television on Wednesday in response to a question about the possibility of a US or Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear projects.
"We will not sit to wait for what others will do to us," he said. "Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly. Any nation, if it feels threatened, can resort to that."
There has been speculation in Iran that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear sites, as it struck against Iraq's nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981.
A commander of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards warned this week that Iran would strike Israel's reactor at Dimona if Israel attacked Iran's nuclear sites.
"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it produces and keeps its nuclear weapons," said General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr.
Shamkhani said Iran was certain that Israel would not carry out such an attack without a green light from the US.
"So you cannot separate the two," he said.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to close its file on charges that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, state-run television reported.
This month, the UN agency affirmed Iran's claim that the highly enriched uranium found at an Iranian site had been carried in on equipment Iran purchased on the black market.
"If the case is not closed, it intensifies the suspicion about interference of political motives and pressures within the agency," Khar-azi said.
The agency is scheduled to report its findings on Iran's nuclear activities at a meeting in Vienna starting on Sept. 13. The US has urged the agency to send Iran's case to the UN Security Council.
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