CBS News and the Associated Press is reporting that:
Link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/20/world/main1913998.shtml
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"We won't suspend (uranium enrichment). Everything has to come out of negotiations. Suspension is not on our agenda," Asefi told a press conference Sunday.
<snip>
Iran has repeatedly stated it would ignore it, but the heightening of regional tensions after weeks of war in Lebanon seemed to have led the Islamic Republic to harden its position.
Iranians appeared to consider that the U.S. and Israel — the leading proponents of a tough stance against Tehran's nuclear program — have lost ground in the Middle East after the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla resisted Israeli air and ground assaults during the 34-day war that ended last Monday.
"Hezbollah is the front line for any attack against Iran," said Hamid Reza Shokouhi, the political editor at the conservative Rah-e-Mardom newspaper in Tehran.
"After Hezbollah's victory, Iran can stand up stronger in defending its nuclear rights," the journalist said, voicing a widespread opinion in the Iranian capital.
Iran helped create Hezbollah and is the Shiite Muslim group's main backer. It has nonetheless denied repeated Israeli claims that it armed the militia with sophisticated missiles and trained its fighters.
And, there of course in the big military war games exercised going on in Iran right now:
"We have to be prepared against any threat and we should be a role model for other countries," local newspapers quoted an Iranian Army spokesman, General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, as saying last week.
My question is this:
Is Iran truly just practicing for the possibility it will be attacked or do you think they are conducting war games in anticipation that there WILL BE an attack?
Also, if Iran believes an attack is imminent, is it possible that they could prepare a pre-emptive strike "against any threat" they perceive? (On edit: It seems to be OK for the US to launch a pre-emptive strike on what it perceives to be its enemies, why not for Iran?)
And, let's not forget the Shiite factor in Iraq with regard to Iran's disposition in the overall picture.
Link:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/20/news/iran.php