Iran Vows To Hit Any Country That Stages Attack

A Republican Guard commander warns Iran will target any country where an attack against it is staged.

Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, didn't elaborate. His comments appeared to be a warning to Iran's neighbors not to let their territory or airspace be used as a base for an attack.

"Any place where enemy offensive operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran originate will be the target of a reciprocal attack by the Guard's fighting units," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Salami as saying Sunday.

Tensions have been rising over Tehran's nuclear program. The U.S. and its Western allies charge Iran is producing atomic weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes like producing electricity.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)