Tehran warns US over nuclear row

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7185426.stm

Tehran warns US over nuclear row

By Jon Leyne

BBC News, Tehran

Tehran has warned the United States not to try and use the dispute

over the Iranian nuclear programme to bring Iran to its knees.

The warning came from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

during a meeting with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed

ElBaradei.

Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that Iran was not building a nuclear

bomb.

He also said that the issue should not even be considered by the

United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian military official accused the Americans

of being warmongers, following the incident in which Washington

claimed that Iranian patrol boats swarmed around their warships in

the Gulf.

The official said the incident did show Iran's determination to

defend the Straits of Hormuz - the strategic waterway at the mouth of

the Gulf.

So, whatever really happened in that naval confrontation, the verbal

skirmishing continues as fierce as ever.