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Tehran threatens to harm US interests if it's attacked

Iran will harm US interests anywhere in the world if the US launches an attack on it, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday.

"The Americans should know that if they assault Iran their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible," he was quoted as saying by a state television announcer.

"The Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity," Khamenei added.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had vowed earlier in the day to resist any UN Security Council demands for a halt to the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

"We won't back down one iota on our lawful and inalienable rights," he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA, just two days before a UN deadline to freeze uranium enrichment expires.

"If international institutions respect our legitimate rights, we will respect their decisions. However, we will not regard these decisions as valid if they are intended to deny us our rights," he was quoted as saying.

He also said the UN bodies should "fulfil their duty lawfully so that the Islamic republic will not need to reconsider its relations with them."

The council had given Iran until tomorrow to freeze enrichment work, which makes what can be fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but also material for a bomb, as a "confidence building" measure to allay fears the regime was seeking a nuclear arsenal.

Iran has rejected the UN demand, insisting it only wants to generate electricity and that fuel cycle work is a "legitimate right."

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, is to report to the council tomorrow on Iranian compliance. The report is expected to chastise Iran for a lack of cooperation with the UN watchdog.

The council could then move to make suspension of enrichment and full cooperation with the IAEA investigation of Iran's nuclear program legally binding -- opening the door to UN economic sanctions or even military action.

But according to Ahmadinejad, the dispute was merely serving as a "trial for international bodies to prove whether they are defending the rights of nations or whether they are acting as puppets in the hands of some bullying powers."

The Iranian atomic agency chief was set to hold last-ditch talks with the IAEA yesterday, diplomats said, although Iran doesn't appear to be offering any concessions.
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