Iran will "cut off hand" of any attacker: Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's army will "cut off the hand" of any attacker and is ready to fulfill its defensive duties, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday during an annual military parade.
Iran is embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear ambitions. The United States, which says Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, has said it wants a diplomatic resolution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action if that fails.
Iran's oil minister, speaking at a separate event on Wednesday, suggested the world's fourth largest crude exporter could use oil as a weapon if it was attacked.
Analysts have said that if Iran chose to stop oil flows, which top Iranian officials have threatened in the past, it would be a double-edged sword by squeezing world markets but also stemming the country's main source of export earnings.
"The army stands against any aggressor and will cut off its hand," the president said in a televised address before troops, tanks, missiles and other military hardware paraded pass.
He made a similar remark in last year's annual ceremony saying Iran would "cut off the hands of any aggressors".
Written above the president's podium were the words: "Peaceful nuclear technology is a fundamental and basic need for our country."
Ahmadinejad's statement this month that Iran had begun work to make nuclear fuel on an industrial scale drew condemnation from the West and was a snub to the U.N. Security Council which has demanded Tehran halt all such uranium enrichment work.
"USING ALL MEANS"
The United States has warned Iran it could face further sanctions, which would follow two previous U.N. sanctions resolutions. The first resolution was passed in December.
Iran insists it does not seek a nuclear weapon and says it wants to master nuclear technology so it can make electricity and preserve its huge oil and gas reserves for export.
Asked if Iran would use oil as a weapon, Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said: "We never want to stop the flow of energy to the world, but naturally each country when it comes under attack or threat will use all means to defend itself."
The minister was speaking at a news conference held during an oil and gas exhibition on Tehran.
Top Iranian officials have brushed off the impact of sanctions and say Iran is ready for any eventuality.
"To fulfill its responsibilities, (the army) is at full readiness," the president said, describing Iran's military as a defensive rather than offensive force.
Parachutists dropped down from planes over the parade area near the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Close by are tens of thousands of graves of those who died in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers loaded onto trucks were driven passed, along with a range of missiles, unmanned surveillance aircraft and two-man submarines with men wearing aqua-lungs standing next to them.
The television commentator described some of the equipment on show as Nazeat-6, heat-seeking Sidewinder and radar-guided Sparrow missiles. A land-to-sea Raad missile was also towed passed on a truck.
Iran did not show off its longest range missile, the Shahab-3, which it says can hit targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away, putting Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf in range.
