Iran Reiterates Objection to US Military Operations Against AfghanistanIran on Sunday reiterated objection to any U.S. military operation against Afghanistan, saying that Iran will not provide the U.S. with airports and airspace.Speaking to Iranian journalists at the Majlis (parliament), Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned that the U.S. military build-up in the region could bring about "unpredictable consequences," the official IRNA news agency reported. The international efforts to find those behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. can lead to convergence of the world community in anti-terrorism campaign, Shamkhani said. Forty-one U.S. and British warships have reportedly arrived in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea, to be called upon to participate in possible retaliatory strikes against Afghanistan, which harbors Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect named by the U.S.. Shamkhani said that any U.S. military action which is not unanimously endorsed by the international community and without United Nations ratification will be opposed by the international public opinion. The vigilant Iranian armed forces are fully monitoring all military and political developments in the region, he said. Referring to the stationing of the Iranian armed forces along Iran's border with Afghanistan, he said that no influx of Afghan refugees into the Iranian territories would be permitted. Iran, whose diplomatic relations with the U.S. were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has condemned the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but warned against possible U. S. reprisals targeting Afghanistan's Taliban militia. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |