Iran Would Consider Pre-emptive Strike on Its Enemies, Fars Says
February 21, 2012, 7:43 PM ESTBy Caroline Alexander
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Iran would consider taking pre- emptive action in response to threats, an Iranian military commander said, according to the state-run Fars news agency.
“We will no more wait to see enemy action against us,” Fars quoted Mohammad Hejazi, deputy head of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Logistic and Industrial Research, as saying in an interview.
Our new strategy is that we will “make use of all our means to protect our national interests and hit a retaliatory blow at them whenever we feel that enemies want to endanger our national interests,” Hejazi was quoted as saying.
Israel and the U.S. have refused to rule out military action against Iranian nuclear sites to prevent the country from acquiring an atomic weapon. Iran today pledged to press on with its efforts to develop nuclear energy. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aims to produce electricity for a growing population.
--Editors: Louis Meixler, Digby Lidstone.
To contact the reporter on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
