Iran: Tehran says it will attack anyone helping its enemies

Tehran – Iran will attack any country that will help the “enemies” of the Islamic republic or allow its territory to be used for that purpose. The deputy head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Hossein Salami made the threat in what appears to be a clear warning against Arabic Peninsula nations.

“Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran, will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces,” he told the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday.

The statement by the Guards’ second in command came a day after they began two-day manoeuvres on Saturday, in what appears to be an act of intimidation against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, which host US military facilities or might be on the flight path of Israeli planes if they are launched against Iranian nuclear installations.

A few weeks ago, the Revolutionary Guards had threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if international sanctions were tightened. So far, the threat has not gone beyond words.

Meanwhile in the United States, President Barak Obama said, “I don't think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons program”.

Although all efforts are being put on diplomacy, he added, “We're going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race—a nuclear arms race—in a volatile region".