Iran not scared of US, says Iranian Defence Minister
Dated 20/4/2006
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Baku: Iran is not scared by the United States' threats of military force, the Iranian Defence Minister said today. "We are not scared of the US threats," Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said during a visit to Baku, Capital of Azerbaijan, the Ex-Soviet Republic on Iran's northern border.
"The USA has been threatening Iran for 27 years and this is not news to us," he told journalists adding, "If Iran is faced with a real threat, it is ready to overcome that." But he also said Iran was "ready to resolve all questions through negotiations."
Tensions are mounting rapidly in the international dispute over Iran's civilian nuclear programme, which the West, especially Washington, says masks an effort to build a nuclear bomb.
US President George W Bush says he has not ruled out a military assault on Iran's nascent nuclear industry. Mohammad-Najjar suggested that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, who is to visit Washington on April 26-28, could "explain our position to the Americans so that they understand correctly."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to visit Azerbaijan on May 4-5.
