Wise Americans will bar any attack: Iran

Tehran, Jan 24: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he did not expect a US attack on Iran because there were plenty of ''wise people'' in the United States who would not let it happen.

Iran and the United States are at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear programme, which Washington says is a cover for making bombs, and over Iraq, where U S officials say Iran is fuelling sectarian violence. Tehran denies both charges.

Washington says it wants to solve the nuclear standoff by diplomacy but has not ruled out strikes if that fails.

''They are not in a position to carry out that measure although they may like to ... because there are many wise people in America who will not let this happen,'' the president said in an interview on Iranian television yesterday.

The United States has sent a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, a move analysts interpreted as a warning to Iran. U S officials say the step was taken to increase operational flexibility and to provide deterrence in the region.

Ahmadinejad, who has said an attack is a US ''dream'', said President George W Bush wanted to cause trouble to help solve his own difficulties.

''Mr Bush is interested in making a rumpus in order to save himself, but the conditions do not let him,'' he said.

Some Iranian politicians have voiced concerns that the United States might contemplate an attack because it feels it can only resolve its problems in Iraq, which is on the verge of civil war, by targetting the Islamic Republic.

REUTERS

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