IRAN: Iran's defence minister has said its forces would "confront" any US aircraft using its airspace during possible strikes on neighbouring Iraq.
Iran, branded a sponsor of terrorism by Washington, opposes any military operation against Iraq and has repeatedly urged Baghdad to co-operate with UN arms inspectors "to remove any pretext" Washington might use to launch a war.
"We will defend our airspace and will not let America violate our airspace while attacking Iraq," Mr Ali Shamkhani told reporters yesterday.
Asked what Tehran would do if US jets unintentionally entered Iran's airspace during possible strikes on Iraq, Mr Shamkhani said: "We will give a decisive and ultimate answer to Americans to confront their possible mistakes."
Iran fears that the US would try to reshape the region based on its own interests after a war.
"Nobody supports Saddam's regime but America's motives have prompted \ reaction from Arabic, Islamic and European countries," the President, Mr Mohammad Khatami, said.
Despite Iran's unease about US military moves in its own back yard, the officially Shia Islamic Republic is no friend of Iraq, with which it fought a bitter war in the 1980s. However, Mr Shamkhani said Tehran would not participate in any war against Iraq. "We will not allow our airspace to be used in any condition," he said, adding "even if the UN Security Council approves an attack on Iraq".
Meanwhile, the Iranian government denied a report that up to 5,000 Iranian-backed Iraqi opposition troops had crossed into northern Iraq from Iran with the aim of securing the frontier in the event of war.
Quoting Iranian officials, the Financial Times said the troops of the Badr brigade, with some heavy equipment, were nominally under the command of the leader of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim.
The brigade has been trained and equipped by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and could be regarded as a proxy force of the Iranian government, the report said.
A senior Iranian official said the presence of Ayatollah al-Hakim's troops along the border was defensive and aimed at countering a possible attack on Iran by the People's Mujahedeen, an Iranian armed opposition group based in Iraq.