Australia warns Israel against strike on Iran

According to Israeli Haaretz newspaper, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, in a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, has voiced Canberra’s opposition to an attack on Iran. “More and more Western countries are joining a growing list of countries who are applying heavy international pressure on Israel to prevent it from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. The latest voice is that of the new Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr,” the report said. The Australian minister has warned Lieberman that “an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities will have serious consequences.” “Our position is very clear -- we counsel Israel against taking military action apart from any other consideration. It is not in the interest of Israel,” Carr said, adding that a military operation was still only a “hypothetical solution.” The US and the EU say Iran is trying to weaponize its nuclear technology and have used the allegation as a pretext to impose sanctions against Tehran, while the Israeli regime has publicly engaged in making threats of military strikes against Iran. Washington has also made repeated threats of keeping its military “options on the table” against the Islamic Republic in case America’s numerous economic and trade sanctions against the Iranian nation fails to force the country to abandon its nuclear energy program. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have vowed a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure would lead to a major war that will spread beyond the Middle East region. In an address on the occasion of Nowruz (Iranian new year) last week, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei reiterated that the Iranian nation will retaliate in kind to any possible attack against the country by the US or the Israeli regime. “We do not possess a nuclear weapon and we will not build one, but we will defend ourselves against any aggression, whether by the US or the Zionist regime, at the same level,” the Leader said.