Iran has the military strength to deter attacks against it, the Islamic Republic's minister of defense said in comments published Tuesday.
U.S. President George W. Bush said in an interview Monday with NBC television he would not rule out military action if Washington cannot persuade Iran to stop short of building a nuclear weapon. "I hope we can solve it diplomatically, but I won't ever take any option off the table," Bush said.
President Bush was quizzed about Iran as The New Yorker magazine reported that U.S. commandos have been operating inside Iran since mid-2004 selecting suspected weapons sites for possible air strikes. The Pentagon slammed the article as "riddled with errors."
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Tehran did not fear attack. "We are able to state that we have might such that no country can attack us because they do not have precise information regarding our military capabilities due to our ability to implement flexible strategies," Mehr news agency quoted the minister as saying.
"We can claim that we have rapidly produced equipment that has resulted in the greatest deterrent," he added.
