Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Tehran was “prepared for the worst” and warned the United States against putting itself on “collision course” with his country. On the sidelines of a news conference in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was asked about news reports of Washington accelerating plans for a strike on Iran over its controverial nuclear programme.
“The US has unfortunately lost wisdom and prudence in dealing with international issues. It depends only on power.
“They have lost rationality; we are prepared for the worst but we hope they will think twice before they put themselves on a collision course with Iran,” Salehi said.
Washington and other Western powers suspect Tehran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. It says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful ends to which it has a right. Washington insisted on Wednesday that it remains committed to a diplomatic solution of the nuclear standoff with Iran as talk mounted in Israel of a political push for a pre-emptive strike.
“We remain focused on a diplomatic channel here, a diplomatic course in terms of dealing with Iran,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
