NICOSIA Ñ A leading Iranian military commander warned that his forces would
target Gulf oil fields in retaliation for any U.S. attack on Teheran. Gen. Sardar
Zolghadr, the deputy commander of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, cited U.S. dependence on Gulf oil and said Teheran would not limit
a military response to areas around the nation's borders.
Iran's top military force has also called for a buildup to
prepare for any U.S. attack.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Iran must bolster its
defensive capability to foil any U.S. threat, Middle East Newsline reported. The corps is loyal to Iranian
supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the ruling clergy and controls the nation's
strategic weapons.
"The world's freedom loving people and intellectuals know that the
Iranian people have the right to independence, the IRGC said in a statement.
"As a result, history will not forgive the United States for trampling upon
the rights of the Iranian people by hatching various plots in the past two
decades against Iran."
The warning came as Western intelligence sources reported that Iran
failed in a recent test of the Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile. The
Israeli Haaretz daily reported on Sunday that the test took place three
weeks ago and was aborted when the missile engines exploded. Several people
were killed in the accident.
Last week, Iranian military officers reported that the navy and air
force were on alert for any U.S. attack. Khamenei also warned the United
States
against targeting Iran in the Washington-led war against terrorism.
The Revolutionary Guards linked the war of words between Washington and
Teheran to the Islamic republic's support for the Palestinians in their war
against Israel. The Bush administration has also accused Iran of harboring
Al Qaida insurgents who have escaped Afghanistan.
"Since the early days of victory of the Islamic Revolution, the White
House and the Zionist lobby have been involved in creating crises on Iran
and now the world is witnessing that the war-monger of the world wants to
impose another war on Iran and the other Islamic states," the statement
said.
The call for an Iranian military buildup came as U.S.-led allies have
increased pressure on neighboring Iraq. Over the weekend, a Canadian warship
boarded and seized a tanker suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil in violation of
United Nations sanctions. The HMCS Vancouver intercepted the tanker in the
Arabian Sea near the Iran-Pakistan border.
