Iran rejects 'language of force' in nuclear standoff

TEHRAN: Iran's president said on Tuesday his nation refused to be cowed by the "language of force" in its nuclear standoff while a top cleric warned of retaliatory strikes on Israel in the event of an attack.   

A defiant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a UN Security Council resolution that demands Tehran halt sensitive nuclear work, and called for a Middle East free from the presence of the United States and Israel.   

"If they think they can use a resolution as a stick against us, they should know that Iranian people do not bend to language of force," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a vast crowd in the northwest province of Ardebil.   

The UN Security Council on July 31 adopted a resolution requiring Iran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment by August 31 or risk possible sanctions.   

The West, led by the United States, suspects it could be trying to build nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran which says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.   

Ahmadinejad said he had spoken to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by telephone and "told him that we are willing to resolve the problem through negotiations... but by this resolution, we have lost our confidence in them."   

He reiterated that Iran would respond on August 22 to the international package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment that was offered by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany.   

"We will give our response on the announced date, and our reply will be based on defending the absolute rights of the Iranian people," he said, amid chants of "nuclear energy is our undeniable right".   

Iran, OPEC's second largest oil exporter, insists it wants to enrich uranium only to make reactor fuel for power stations, but there is widespread suspicion the country wants the capacity to make weapons-grade uranium.   

"Today, we have completely and indigenously mastered the nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful use," said Ahmadinejad.   

His defiant speech came as the nation celebrated the "victory" of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia in its deadly conflict with Israel following a ceasefire that took hold in Lebanon on Monday.   

A top cleric warned that Iran would retaliate with ballistic missile strikes against Tel Aviv if it came under attack by the United States and Israel.   

"If they want to carry out an aggression against Iran, they should be afraid of the day that our 2,000-kilometer (1,250 mile) range missile will hit the heart of Tel Aviv," said Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts which supervises the work of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.   

An Iranian general said in January that Iran's Shahab-3 missile, which is modeled on the North Korean No-Dong, was now capable of striking targets 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away after work to extend its range.   

"(US President George W.) Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert should learn their lesson and understand that playing with Islam is like messing with the lion's tail," Khatami said in an interview on state-run television.   

Hezbollah claimed victory on Monday after a ceasefire took effect to end a war that has cost 1,300 lives since Israel began its massive assault on Lebanon following the capture of two soldiers by the Shiite guerrillas.   

In Iran, youths on motorbikes waved the yellow flags of Hezbollah, and government bodies set up street stalls to hand out sweets in celebration.   

Residents of Tehran and other cities also took to rooftops shouting "Allah Akbar" (God is the greatest), echoing the protests that marked the final days of the shah's regime before the 1979 Islamic revolution.   

Non-Arab Shiite Iran and its main regional ally Syria are accused by the United States and Israel of supplying arms to Hezbollah but Tehran says it provides only moral support.