KavkazCenter - Syria, Iran more powerful than ever

Syria, Iran more powerful than ever

Many experts say that Hezbollah's victory in Lebanon has given a noticeable boost to Iran and Syria's strength, specially in facing challenges and disputes with the West.

"Both Syria and Iran have achieved a political victory," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi Arabian who hosts a talk show on Dubai television.

‘Language of force'

"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," the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in recent a televised speech addressing vast crowd in the northwest province of Ardebil.

Defiant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made it clear that his country refuses the UN Security Council resolution demanding it suspend nuclear activities, calling for a Middle East free from the presence of the U.S. and Israel.

"If they think they can deprive Iran of its absolute right, they should know that even using the means of the Security Council will have no influence on Iran's determination," Iran's nuclear chief Ali Larijani had been quoted as saying.

The Iranian President stressed that his nation refuses to be cowed by the "language of force" which had been pursued recently by the world powers, lead by the U.S. and backed by Israel, aimed at forcing Iran give up its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty to pursue peaceful nuclear technology, warning of retaliatory strikes against Israel if his country's nuclear sites were ever attacked.

Last month, the UN Security Council approved a resolution requiring Iran suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment, giving it a deadline until August 31 or face the threat of sanctions.

• "Through negotiations"

Speaking to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by telephone, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is "willing to resolve the problem through negotiations... but by this resolution, we have lost our confidence in them," the Iranian President said, stressing that Iran would respond on the package of incentives proposed by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, and aimed at persuading it give up uranium enrichment.

"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, as crowds cheered "nuclear energy is our undeniable right".

Nejad's defiant speech came as the Arab world celebrated the sweeping "victory" of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah and the defeat of the "mighty" Israeli army in the recent conflict in the Lebanese territories.

It's believed that Iran, together with Syria are the foremost supporters of Hezbollah in the Middle East region.

• Hitting Tel Aviv

Meanwhile, a top cleric warned that Iran would use ballistic missile strikes capable of hitting Tel Aviv, if Israel or the U.S. decided one day to launch a military strike against Iran to knock down its nuclear facilities.

"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.

"(U.S. 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.

• Victory

President Ahmadinejad and the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad stressed that their political, financial and military backing to the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah, defeated Israel.

In his speech, Nejad said: "God's promises have come true,"

"On one side, it's corrupt powers of the criminal U.S. and Britain and the Zionists . . . with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God", Ahmadinejad said- remarks echoed by the Syrian President who said that the U.S.'s long pursued goal of reshaping the Middle East had been ruined.

Both leaders ridiculed the U.S. hopes and efforts aimed at reducing Hezbollah's power.

"The Middle East [the Americans] aspire to . . . has become an illusion," Syrian President Bashar Assad said in Damascus.

"We tell [the Israelis] that after tasting humiliation in the latest battles, your weapons are not going to protect you -- not your planes, or missiles, or even your nuclear bombs. . . . The future generations in the Arab world will find a way to defeat Israel," Assad added.

Source: Agencies and AlJazeera