Iran: If Israel attacks us, we'll blow up Dimona
By Ellis Shuman
August 16, 2004 "Israel Insider" -- "The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran's advanced missiles," a senior Iranian official said yesterday. He warned that his country would strike at Israel if either "the Zionist regime or America will carry out its threats" against Iran. Israel plans additional tests for its Arrow missile interceptor, to boost the system's efficiency against a possible Iranian attack.
Yesterday, Iran's world judoka champion Arash Miresmaeili refused to face Israeli Ehud Vaks in the first round of their under-66 kg class at the Olympics. "Although I have trained for months and am in shape I refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people," he told IRNA.
Encouraged by his country's refusal to recognize Israel, Miresmaeli showed up for his event but was disqualified because he was overweight. International judo officials began investigating whether Miresmaeli had intentionally binged in order to be disqualified from the match. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said the judoka's refusal to compete will go down in Iranian history.
Yesterday, Yadollah Javani, head of the Revolutionary Guards political bureau, was quoted by the ISNA student news agency as saying, "The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran's advanced missiles. Therefore, neither the Zionist regime nor America will carry out its threats" against Iran, he said.
An attack on Iran "could only be carried out by angry or stupid people. For that reason, officials of the Islamic Republic must always be prepared to counter possible military threats," Javani said in a statement, ISNA reported.
Last week, Iran said it carried out a successful test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile, reportedly capable of striking anywhere in Israel or at U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf.
Channel Two Arab Affairs analyst Ehud Ya'ari said, however, that the latest Shahab testing had not been successful, and Iranian's missile capabilities were far from posing an immediate threat to Israel.
Iran has stepped up its missile program in recent weeks in response to some media reports suggesting that Israel and/or the United States may attempt to stage a pre-emptive strike to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has threatened a harsh military response to any such attack.
Military experts believe an air strikes similar to Israel's strike against Iraq's nuclear facility in Osirak in 1986 would be ineffective because many of Iran's nuclear facilities are spread out and built underground.
Meanwhile, Israeli defense officials are planning a new test of the Arrow-2 missile interceptor, to boost its speed and accuracy against a possible ballistic attack from Iran.
The Arrow-2 successfully passed its first live test in July when it downed an incoming Scud missile off the coast of California. But security officials said the Arrow needs to be upgraded to combat the faster Shahab-3 missile.
"We will put the Arrow through another live run in the near future, pushing the envelope on all its capabilities," a senior defense source said last week, without elaborating, according to a Reuters report.
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