Minister says Iran expects no U.S. or Israeli attack

TEHRAN-Iran's foreign minister said on Saturday he believed neither the United States nor Israel would want to get entangled in a new Middle East crisis and attack the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme.The comments by Manouchehr Mottaki came a few days after Iranian missile tests heightened regional tension and helped send world oil prices to new record levels.Mottaki told the official IRNA news agency that Iran's response would be "firm and pounding" if its two arch-foes launched strikes against the country.But, he added: "Of course, the Zionist regime and the U.S. do not possess such capacities to want to involve themselves in new crises.""The Zionist regime is still involved in the after-shocks of the war with Lebanon," Mottaki said, referring to Israel's inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas."And the U.S. still does not possess the capacity to enter another crisis in the Persian Gulf region."Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed only at generating electricity. Western nations and Israel fear the world's fourth-largest oil exporter is seeking to build nuclear bombs.Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.Israel, long assumed to have its own atomic arsenal, has sworn to prevent Iran from emerging as a nuclear-armed power.

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As in the days of Noah....