Iran says would hit back against any US attack

BAGHDAD, May 26 (Reuters) Iran would hit back against any US attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Baghdad today.

''In the event that Americans attack Iran anywhere, Iran will respond with an attack in that place,'' he told a joint news conference with Iraq's speaker of parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

Mottaki's remarks were translated into Arabic.

But he suggested he did not believe the United States would attack Iran, saying: ''We don't see that America is in a position where it would create a new crisis for the American tax payer.'' The United States and Iran are fiercely at odds over Western accusations that Iran's nuclear power programme is a cover for making weapons. Iran denies the accusations and says it has a right to a peaceful nuclear programme.

REUTERS