Several Iranian military officials underlined their country's readiness to fight if the U.S. or Israel strikes it - a reflection of concerns that the West's confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program could eventually turn to military action.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday that the international community should prepare for the possibility of war in the event that Iran obtains atomic weapons, although he later appeared to soften that statement.
The comments also come as the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, Adm. William Fallon, is touring Gulf countries seeking to form a united front of Arab allies against Iran's growing influence.
Iran has raised alarms over the possibility of war in the past, particularly when the West renews talk of sanctions over its nuclear program, which Tehran denies is intended to produce a bomb.
"We have drawn up a plan to strike back at Israel with our bombers if this regime (Israel) makes a silly mistake," Iran's deputy air force commander, Gen. Mohammad Alavi, said in an interview with the semiofficial Fars news agency.
Alavi warned that Israel was within range of Iran's medium-range missiles and its fighter bombers. The Iranian air force had no immediate comment on Fars' report.
Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar told the official IRNA news agency Wednesday that "we keep various options open to respond to threats. ... We will make use of them if required."
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards also weighed in, saying Iran "has prepared its people for a possible confrontation against any aggression."
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Alavi's comment "is not constructive and it almost seems provocative,"
"Israel doesn't seek a war with its neighbors. And we all are seeking, under the U.N. Security Council resolutions, for Iran to comply with its obligations," she said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States is committed to diplomacy, though it "also never takes any of his options off the table." She said "it can't be business as usual" with a country whose president has spoken of wiping Israel off the map.
For diplomacy to work, Rice said during a visit to Jerusalem, "it has to have both a way for Iran to pursue a peaceful resolution of this issue and it has to have teeth, and the U.N. Security Council and other measures are providing teeth."
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "Unfortunately we are all too accustomed to this kind of bellicose, extremist and hateful language coming from Iran."
"We take the threat very seriously and so does the international community," he added.
Many in the region fear Israel or the United States could launch airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to prevent it from building a nuclear weapon.
Iran has said in the past that Israel would be Iran's first retaliatory target if attacked by the United States, but Alavi's comments were the first word of specific contingency plans.
A top Revolutionary Guards commander warned this week that U.S. bases around Iran would also be legitimate targets.
"Today, the United States is within Iran's sight and all around our country, but it doesn't mean we have been encircled. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," Gen. Mohammed Hasan Kousehchi told IRNA.
U.S. forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Gulf, Kuwait has a major U.S. base; the U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, is based in Bahrain; and the U.S. forces' Central Command is based in Qatar.
Tensions have further been raised by a mysterious Israeli air incursion in Syria on Sept. 6, which U.S. officials said involved an airstrike against a target. The officials said the strike hit weapons heading for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Syria and Iran - though some have speculated the Israelis were targeting a nascent nuclear facility or were scoping out routes for a possible future strike on Iran.
Meanwhile, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns called for U.N. Security Council members and U.S. allies to help push for a third round of sanctions against Iran.
"We are going ahead to try to sanction Iran again, and we hope very much to have the support of Russia and China and the other countries in the council for that," Burns said during a visit to Turkey. "We have very strong support of France and Britain in this respect."
But Russia's U.N. ambassador said Wednesday that Moscow opposes new sanctions, saying they could hurt a recent agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at resolving outstanding issues.
Vitaly Churkin warned against "increasing tensions - whether by adopting a new resolution of a sensational nature or, even more so, with discussions or the development of plans, God forbid, for military action against Iran."
Two U.N. resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran have failed to persuade the country to suspend uranium enrichment.
Burns said he would host a meeting Friday with the participation of permanent members of the Security Council "to look at the elements of a third resolution."
Talks on a new sanctions resolution were expected next week in New York, when world leaders attend the annual ministerial session of the U.N. General Assembly.
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