Iran rejects Sarkozy's claim on nuclear threats

IRAN: IRAN YESTERDAY rejected French president Nicolas Sarkozy's comments on the necessity to build a strong deterrent against new security threats posed by nuclear-armed Islamic states, a news agency reported.

Speaking on Friday at the launch of the fourth of France's latest generation of nuclear-armed submarines, Mr Sarkozy said Iran was "increasing the range of its missiles while serious suspicions weigh on its nuclear programme".

But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini insisted Iran was a source of peace and stability in the Middle East.

"Iran has upgraded its capabilities drawing a parallel between these achievements and possible threats against other countries is inappropriate and invalid," the students' news agency ISNA quoted Mr Hosseini as saying.

Iran, locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear plans, had previously boasted it had missiles that could sink "big warships" in the Gulf, a region where US aircraft carriers and warships operate.

Iran's Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 2,000km (1,243 miles), is capable of hitting Israel and US bases in the Gulf, Iranian officials say. Iran has refused to recognise Israel since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed Shah.

Tehran said in November it had built a new missile with a range of 2,000km, a step analysts said could add more power to its conventional arsenal when tensions over its atomic plans are rising.

The West accuses Iran of trying to get nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian scheme. Iran denies this, saying it only wants to generate electricity to meet its booming demand.

© 2008 Reuters

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times