Iran Leader Warns U.S. Against Attacking

1 hour, 18 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader warned the United States on Wednesday that his nation would hit back twice as hard if America attacked its nuclear sites.

Even as it threatened to ravage U.S. global interests, Iran sent its top nuclear official to Vienna, Austria, for talks with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency ahead of a Friday Security Council deadline for Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment activities.

"The Americans should know that if they invade Iran, their interests around the world would be harmed," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told workers gathered ahead of May Day, the international workers' holiday, state television reported.

"Iran will respond twofold to any attack," Khamenei said.

The United States repeatedly has said it has no plans to attack Iran but all options remain on the table as it pursues a diplomatic solution to Iran's insistence on enriching uranium - a process that can produce fuel for generators or fissile material for nuclear bombs.

Britain on Wednesday ruled out military force against Iran. "This is not Iraq. Nobody is talking about military action," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a speech in London.

But Straw said how the world deals with the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program will be a test for the relevance of international diplomacy.

The Security Council has given Iran until Friday to suspend enrichment. If it does not, the council is likely to consider punitive measures against the Islamic republic.

Iran has rejected the ultimatum, but senior negotiator Gholamreza Aghazadeh was discussing the issue in talks Wednesday with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is preparing a report on Iran's compliance with the Security Council demand.

In Vienna, diplomats were skeptical of any proposals that Aghazadeh was carrying, saying they were unlikely to alter the negative tone of the IAEA report to the Security Council. Still, one of the diplomats - who demanded anonymity because he was not supposed to be discussing the confidential talks - said the two sides agreed to a second round of talks in the evening after an afternoon meeting attended by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

The chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, has said he expects a negative report from ElBaradei.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the possibility of the council's penalizing Iran.

"The enemies could not impose their wrong decision against us under cover of the Security Council and the IAEA," Ahmadinejad said, according to state television.

Ahmadinejad said Iran remained committed to negotiations.

"We are ready to discuss (the nuclear program) to show that it has not been diverted" to military purposes, the president said.

The United States has asked for the Security Council to meet May 3 to discuss how to respond to the report.

While the IAEA has found no "smoking gun" proving Iran wants nuclear arms, a series of IAEA reports have revealed worrying clandestine activities such as plutonium processing and documents including drawings of how to mold weapons-grade uranium metal into the shape of a warhead.

Iran deepened international concerns by announcing April 11 that it had enriched uranium with 164 centrifuges. It has informed the IAEA that it plans to install 3,000 centrifuges in the last quarter of 2006 and later 54,000 centrifuges for large-scale enrichment of uranium.

While tens of thousands of centrifuges need to be running in "cascades" for a full-fledged enrichment programs, experts estimate that Iran could produce enough nuclear material for one bomb if it had at least 1,000 centrifuges working for over a year.

On Tuesday, Iran issued its toughest warning on the issue. Nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said that if the Security Council imposes sanctions, Iran would stop cooperating with the IAEA and conceal its nuclear activities.

"If you take harsh measures, we will hide this program. If you use the language of force, you should not expect us to act transparently," Larijani said.

Iran appears to be drawing strength for its defiance from the evident reluctance of Russia and China to endorse sanctions. The two powers hold vetoes on the Security Council.

"We see no alternative to the negotiations process," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday. China has repeatedly urged all parties to show flexibility and pursue a peaceful settlement.

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Associated Press Writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, contributed to this report.

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