The United States is incapable of inflicting "serious damage" on Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last night, as a second US aircraft carrier group steamed toward the Gulf as a warning from Washington for Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region.
In an interview with Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad said Washington had not stepped up its campaign against Tehran, despite the standoff with the West over Iran's defiance of UN demands to halt uranium enrichment. The UN Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Iran last month.
"US rhetoric against Iran has not increased," Ahmadinejad said. "In 2003, they openly threatened to attack Iran. Now they have indirectly made such threats."
He spoke with confidence over Iran's ability to withstand a strike. "The United States is unable to inflict serious damage on Iran," the president said. He also noted, "They are not really in a position to carry out this action. I believe there are many wise people in the United States who would not let it happen."
Iran says its atomic program is aimed solely at generating energy, but the United States and some of its allies suspect it is geared toward making nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad, during a meeting Tuesday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, accused the US of stirring up conflict between rival Muslim sects to maintain influence in the Middle East.
"The US intends to cause insecurity and dispute and weaken independent governments in the region to continue with its dominance over the Middle East and achieve its arrogant goals," Ahmadinejad said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA.
Opinion-makers from both ends of Iran's political spectrum have recently criticized Ahmadinejad, accusing him of stirring opposition to Iran by taking a hard line on the nuclear dispute and employing fiery anti-Western rhetoric.
But Ahmadinejad said his goals were peaceful. "Iran is not seeking confrontation with anybody," he told the state television interviewers.
US officials have long refused to rule out any options in the faceoff with Tehran, but say military action would be a last resort.
Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, ruled out direct negotiations with Iran and said a rapprochement between Washington and Tehran was "not possible" until Iran halts uranium enrichment.