Iran is prepared with hidden "rainy day" military capabilities it is saving for when it is attacked, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Tuesday, warning potential enemies of a "new environment" created by Iran's developing arms industry.
Earlier Tuesday, a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions between top Israeli officials and Pentagon counterparts said that Israel indicated it would not warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and Capitol Hill.
Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the U.S. would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's potential attack.
Referring to the possibility of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the country's defense minister warned possible perpetrators of Iran's secret weapons capabilities, saying that the "Islamic Republic of Iran has many hidden capabilities which are kept for rainy days."
"We have not yet revealed all our capabilities," Vahidi told the semi-official Fars news agency, stressing the added value of Iran's independently run and operated military industry.
"Undoubtedly, since our defense is an independent and defensive one based on our own defensive policies, special defense doctrines and our own indigenous defense and internal capabilities, the U.S. will face a completely new environment when gets involved with the new issues that Iran is pursuing and it will be obliged to think of this new environment," Vahidi said
The top Iranian official also spoke of what he said was the United States' inability to influence Iran's military progress, saying that, "naturally, they cannot reach this point since we have not displayed all our capabilities and capacities."
"These days Americans badly fear that an incident happens in the region and they can't stand against the Islamic Republic's firm positions vis-à-vis that given event," Vahidi told Fars.
Haaretz
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