Members of Iran's Basij militia take part in Army Day military parade in Tehran

Since 04-21-06

Times Online

April 18, 2006

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2139246_1,00.html

(Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)

Iran parades its military might
By Jenny Booth and agencies

Iran staged a show of military might today as thousands of its troops paraded with guns, rockets and even small submarines through central Tehran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the salutes at the Army Day military parade, and remarked that any aggressor attacking Iran would live to regret it.

The Islamic Republic is involved in a stand-off with the international community, after defying the United Nations Security Council and restarting its uranium enrichment programme.

Last week Tehran announced that it had "entered the nuclear club" by mastering the nuclear fuel cycle, and had successfully enriched a small amount of uranium for use as fuel for a nuclear power station.

Mr Ahmadinejad has denied that he is trying to develop nuclear weapons, but in increasingly bellicose statements he has defied attempts to negotiate a solution and has threatened the destruction of the state of Israel. The United States has not ruled out responding with military action.

"Today, Iran’s army is one of the most powerful armies in the world and it will powerfully defend the country’s political borders and the nation," the President said, in a brief speech before Iranian army, navy and air force personnel took part in its annual parade.

"It will cut off the hands of any aggressors and will make any aggressor regret it."

Members of the volunteer Basij militia, who see themselves as the guardians of revolutionary values, also marched by, wearing head bands with the words "Muhammad, God’s Prophet".

Battle tanks were towed on trucks past the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, while helicopters and Russian-built fighter planes flew in formation overhead.

Parachutists sailed down from the sky. Torpedos and small submarines were also towed before the president, as were Nazeat 10 and Zelzal 1 missiles.

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 US bases in the Gulf in range.

Iran staged war games in the Gulf this month and tested what it said was a radar-evading missile, a high-speed sonar-evading torpedo and other equipment it said the country had developed.

Analysts say much of Iran’s military equipment is outdated but that its forces could still disrupt oil shipping routes in the Gulf, which they said was the message behind the manoeuvres.

Meanwhile world powers were holding talks in Moscow on how to keep Iran's nuclear programme in check. But US calls for strong UN action were once more met with resistance by Russia and China, who are trading partners with Iran and say that any solution must be a diplomatic one, avoiding either sanctions or military action.

Iran’s ambassador to Russia said last night that Iran was ready for war over its nuclear programme, but was doing everything possible to prevent this.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are due to arrive in Iran on Friday to visit nuclear sites, including the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA who visited Iran last week, said that inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog had taken samples and would report back to the IAEA’s board on whether the Iranians had indeed achieved 3.5 per cent enrichment, as they claimed.

The Security Council has urged Iran to stop enrichment work and has asked Mr ElBaradei to report on Iranian compliance by April 28.

The IAEA says it cannot verify Iran’s nuclear programme is entirely peaceful despite three years of investigations, but it has found no hard proof of efforts to build atomic weapons.