U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran and Syria on Monday of unacceptable conduct for both harboring and assisting terrorists. He claimed countries involved in terror will bear the consequences of their actions. The president linked the conduct of Iran and Syria to the peace process in the Middle East. Helping terrorists, he said, is betraying the true interest of the Palestinian people.
Over the past few months the U.S. has increased pressure on Iran and verbally attacked the country on several grounds – assisting terror, developing nuclear weapons and more recently the Shihab-3, an Iranian missile capable of targeting American bases in the Middle East.
Terror is the strongest obstacle to establishing an independent Palestinian country, therefore all the leaders who wish to reach this goal must back their statements against terror by way of action, said Bush on Monday.
Iran’s President Muhammad Khatami delivered a speech on Sunday to mark the Shihab-3 becoming operational. “The divine power has overcome all threats,” he said, adding “today we are witnessing that the divine power will do the same for the Lebanese and Palestinian people…this is an important moment in defending the Palestinians.”
The Shihab-3 missile can hit targets within a range of 1300 kilometers, or 800 miles. This means that as well as American bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, it can also target Israel.
Israel has already developed an appropriate response to the Shihab – the “Arrow” missile is capable of intercepting the Shihab outside Israeli territory. “The constant strive to obtain nuclear weapons and the statements of Khamanai [Iran’s spiritual leader] regarding ‘the Shihab-3’s ability to protect Palestine’ place Iran at the top of list of countries whose regimes endanger stability and peace in the world,” wrote Professor Itzhak Ben Israel, a lecturer on security issues at Tel Aviv University in a Ma’ariv- Hebrew-daily column.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharazi, at a press conference in South Africa on Monday, addressed the accusations against Iran concerning developing a nuclear plan. “Israel needs to justify the existence of its own nuclear reactor,” he said. “It wishes to present itself as if under a threat, while the real source of danger is Israel’s own capacity…We don’t regard development of nuclear weapons an action that increases security. On the contrary – we regard it as a threat to security.” As to Iran’s standpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Kharazi said, “Iran has proposed the establishment of an independent Palestinian country, based on the South African model, which is a democratic solution to the problem.”
Despite the peaceful messages of the Iranian President and Foreign Minister, Iran backs the Lebanese terror movement Hizbullah, which has been attacking Israel for the past two decades. On Tuesday, July 22nd, Hizbullah assaulted Israel with rockets, injuring two people. Moreover, Israel estimates that Russian and North Korean assistance will enable Iran to obtain nuclear capacity within five years.