Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says his country considers all options open as a means of self-defense against foreign threats.
“We consider all possible defensive options open against the enemies’ threats,” Iran’s Defense Minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters Thursday morning.
Vahidi’s remarks came in response to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ statements who said on Tuesday that Washington was keeping “all options” on the table for dealing with Iran and North Korea.
“If there is a message for Iran and North Korea here, it is that if you’re going to play by the rules, if you’re going to join the international community, then we will undertake certain obligations to you,” AFP reported.
“But if you’re not going to play by the rules, if you’re going to be a proliferator, then all options are on the table in terms of how we deal with you,” he told reporters.
Gates threatening comments come at a time that Washington is struggling to build a consensus among permanent members of the UN Security Council for a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran with Russia and China showing reluctance to fresh sanctions and trying to sway other veto-weilding members of the UNSC to use diplomacy in dealing with Iran’s nuclear issue rather than force.
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