AFP: Iran will retaliate in the event of a US strike, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Friday during a visit to neighbouring Iraq where some 130,000 US troops are based. BAGHDAD, May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Iran will retaliate in the event of a US strike, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Friday during a visit to neighbouring Iraq where some 130,000 US troops are based.
“The risks of a confrontation are minimal,” Mottaki told a joint news conference with Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani.
“But in the event that America launches a strike from any place, Iran will retaliate by targeting that place.”
US President George W. Bush has refused to rule out a military strike against Iran if negotiations fail to calm suspicions it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
But his chief Iraq ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said in an interview released Thursday: “We don’t want a conflict with Iran, we have got enough on our plate doing other things.”
