AGENCIES, ABU DHABI
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday threatened "severe" retaliation if the US attacked his country, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program.
"They realize that if they make such a mistake the retaliation of Iran would be severe and they will repent," Ahmadinejad told a news conference in the United Arab Emirates, via an interpreter.
"All people know they cannot strike us. Iran is capable of defending itself. It is a strong country," Ahmadinejad said.
"Superpowers cannot prevent us from owning this energy," he said.
Using stronger language than on Sunday when he called for US troops to leave the Gulf region, Ahmadinejad said Gulf countries should "get rid of" foreign forces, which he blamed for the region's insecurity.
He was speaking during a visit to the UAE, a US ally which, like Iran's other Gulf Arab neighbors, has expressed concern about Tehran's nuclear plans.
"We in the Persian Gulf are faced by difficulties and enemies. Those who do not want the region to live in safety ... peace can be achieved by getting rid of these forces," he said.
"They intervene in the region and make it insecure. They claim that lack of security is the reason for their presence [but] the problem is the intervention of foreign powers," he said.
The president's comments followed those by US Vice President Dick Cheney, who said on Friday from the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf that the US and its allies would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and dominating the region.
Despite the tense words, the US and Iran announced on Sunday that they have agreed to meet in Baghdad to discuss security and stability in Iraq.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
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