[THS] Iran Complains to UN About Clinton Comment

[Peter Webster]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050108O.shtml

Iran Complains to UN About Clinton Comment
    By Claudia Parsons
    Reuters

    Wednesday 30 April 2008

    United Nations - Iran complained to the United Nations on Wednesday
about US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's comment the United States
could "totally obliterate" Iran in retaliation for a nuclear strike against Israel.

    Iran's deputy ambassador to the United Nations sent a letter to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council
expressing Iran's condemnation of "such a provocative, unwarranted and
irresponsible statement."

    Clinton made the remarks last week while campaigning for the
Democratic presidential nomination. The New York senator said she wanted
to make clear to Tehran what she was prepared to do if she becomes
president in the hope that this warning would deter any Iranian nuclear
attack against the Jewish state.

    "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran
(if it attacks Israel)," Clinton said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning
America."

    "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider
launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,"
she said.

    "That's a terrible thing to say but those people who run Iran need to
understand that because that perhaps will deter them from doing
something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic," Clinton said.

    Iran, which Washington and its allies charge is seeking nuclear arms, has
voiced war-like rhetoric in recent years amid speculation its nuclear facilities
could face U.S. or Israeli military action.

    Tehran denies it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons and says it needs
nuclear technology to generate electricity.

    Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but, as part of a policy
of "strategic ambiguity," has not confirmed or denied the nature of its
arsenal.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad outraged the international
community in 2005 by saying "Israel should be wiped off the map."

    In the letter dated April 30, Deputy Ambassador Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi
said he wanted to reiterate Iran's rejection of all weapons of mass
destruction including nuclear weapons.

    "Moreover, I wish to reiterate my government's position that the Islamic
Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nations," he said.
"Nonetheless .... Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to
any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive
measures to protect itself."

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