Iranian missiles ready to hit Tel Aviv
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-08-15 17:17 TEHRAN - Iran will hit Tel
Aviv with its medium-range missiles if attacked, said an influential senior
cleric on Tuesday.
"If they (U.S. and Israel) militarily attack Iran ... They should be afraid
of the day when our missiles with 2,000 km range will hit Tel Aviv," Ahmad
Khatami told state television.
Khatami sits on the Assembly of Experts, the body of 86 clerics that
constitutionally supervises the country's most powerful man, Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Arms experts say Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a maximum range of around
2,000 km (1,240 miles), meaning they are capable of hitting Israel as well as
U.S. military bases in the Gulf.
U.S. officials accuse Iran of planning to equip its missiles with nuclear
warheads. Iran says it has no desire to have atomic weapons and is only
developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, such as electricity
generation.
Iranian military commanders have repeatedly warned they would not hesitate to
deploy the Shahab-3 missiles if Iran came under attack over its disputed nuclear
programme.
Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear dispute with
the West, but has not ruled out military options.
Tehran has vowed to expand its atomic fuel activities despite a U.N. Security
Council resolution demanding it halt nuclear work by August 31 or face the
threat of sanctions.
Khatami praised Lebanon's Hizbollah for its resistance against Israel, saying
that U.S. President George W. Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
should have learned lessons from the month-long war in Lebanon.
"I congratulate Hizbollah for its victory, which was the victory of Islam.
This was a disgraceful defeat for America and the Zionist regime (Israel),"
Khatami said.
Bush on Monday reiterated that Iran should stop supporting armed groups in
both Iraq and Lebanon.
Iran, which refuses to recognise Israel, says it only gives moral support to
anti-Israeli groups like Hamas and Hizbollah and denies backing insurgents in
neighbouring Iraq.
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