Iranians Renew Threat of Revenge for U.S. Destruction of Oil Rig

Iran on Wednesday renewed its threats of reprisal for the U.S. destruction of an Iranian oil platform in the Persian Gulf.

Ali Ahani, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s director for political affairs, told reporters in Bonn, West Germany, that the response to the U.S. action Monday would “not necessarily be limited” to the gulf region, where Iran and Iraq have been at war since September, 1980.

“Iran has several plans under consideration and will soon act to make the United States pay for its actions,” he said. “The United States will regret this action.”

Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian foreign minister, sent a letter to the United Nations charging that the U.S. attack violated the Security Council’s unanimous cease-fire resolution of July 20 and demanded that the council protest.

He said the United States has “started a war against Iran that could have international dimensions. The United States wants to create an economic crisis in Europe, and the Europeans will suffer,” he said.

Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi said Wednesday that the United States “violated Iran’s territorial integrity” with the attack. The Kuwaiti News Agency, in a report monitored from Cyprus, quoted Moussavi as telling reporters in Damascus, at the end of a three-day visit to Syria, that Tehran would respond “in a suitable manner.”