US risks falling into same trap in Iran as in Iraq: Larijani

BRITAIN: The United States risks falling into the same trap in Iran as it did in Iraq if it takes military action over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani warned.

The US government was engaging in "psychological warfare" in a bid to haul Iran before the UN Security Council, which could consider economic sanctions and eventually even military action, Larijani told BBC television.

Just as in Iraq, the United States wants to suggest falsely it has international backing for its position, he claimed, insisting Iran had the right to build what he described as a peaceful nuclear program.

"This will be a catastrophe... because we are just doing R and D (Research and Development) and they want to send us to the Security Council," Larijani said.

"I think some of what they (US officials) are saying and doing is psychological warfare. If they believe by engaging in this, they can deny us our inalienable rights, they are wrong," Larijani added.

When the BBC interviewer said some in the United States believe Iran would fall apart if US military strikes were launched, Larijani replied that a clique of "Zionist Orientalists" were again giving Washington bad advice. "These same mistakes led to the Americans being bogged down in Iraq," Larijani said. "Today in Iran all the stratas of society... have unanimously supported the peaceful nuclear program."

Meanwhile The International Atomic Energy Agency chief said a deal to defuse a standoff over Iran's nuclear aims was still feasible and diplomats outlined a compromise that would let Tehran pursue limited atomic research.

Mohamed ElBaradei cited a surge of diplomacy in which Iran has offered not to pursue industrial-scale uranium enrichment for up to two years. He was speaking before debate on Iran at an IAEA board meeting that could presage U.N. Security Council action.

Iran may agree to extend that moratorium if it is permitted to run a small-scale enrichment research programme, said a diplomat close to talks between Iran and the European Union.

"I am still very much hopeful that in the next week or so an agreement could be reached," ElBaradei said, while acknowledging that Russia's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran had snagged on Tehran's determination to purify nuclear fuel itself.

London, Vienna, Tuesday, AFP, Reuters