Iran warns of "painful" response if Israel attacks
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's defense minister was quoted on Tuesday as warning Israel of a "very painful" response if it launched a military strike over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program.
On Friday, Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told an Israeli newspaper an attack on Iran looked "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of United Nations sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential.
"Our armed forces are at the height of their readiness and if anyone should want to undertake such a foolish job the response would be very painful," the state Iran daily quoted Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as saying.
Some Israeli political commentators have accused Mofaz, whose comments helped drive up oil prices to a record $139 a barrel on Friday, of making them to advance his personal political ambitions.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday to refrain from discussing sensitive matters publicly, officials said.
Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has described Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence. Olmert last week said it must be stopped by "all possible means."
Iran does not recognize Israel and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is regularly predicting its demise.
The United States, which is leading efforts to isolate Tehran over nuclear work the West fears is aimed at making bombs, says it wants a diplomatic solution to the row but has not ruled out military action if that were to fail.
Israel bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981 and an Israeli air raid on Syria last September razed what the United States said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.
But many analysts say Iran's nuclear sites are too numerous, distant and fortified for Israel to take on alone.
"Israel cannot do it on its own," London-based defense analyst Andrew Brookes told Reuters. "It is beyond the capability of the Israeli air force to do it because of the distance involved and the dispersed nature of all the sites."
"The only way it can be done is with the full assistance of the United States," said Brookes of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank.
Iran, which says its nuclear work is solely for generating electricity, has threatened to retaliate if it is attacked.
Its Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles), is capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, Iranian officials say.
(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari in Tehran and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Jon Boyle)
