Commander Warns of Iran's Crushing Response to Aggressors

"Today no enemy has the requirements and the desire to carry out a military attack against the powerful Iran and military aggression against Iran is highly unlikely and even impossible and is synonymous with the suicide of the aggressor," Pourdastan said, addressing a number of foreign military attachés in Tehran on Tuesday night. 

Referring to Iran's military capabilities as well as the country's deterrence and defensive power, he reiterated that the current military power of Iran is not comparable to any other time in the country's history. 

The Iranian General, meantime, underlined the defensive nature of Iran's military and arms programs, and said they are just meant to serve the security and stability of the Persian Gulf and the country's national interests. 

Israel and its close ally the United States have repeatedly warned of a military strike on Iran. 

Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads, but they accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. 

Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. 

Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran mounted since a big Israeli air drill three years ago. In the first week of June, 2008, 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters reportedly took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, which was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations. 

Iran has, in return, warned that it would target Israel and the US as well as their worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by either country. 

Iran has also warned it could close the strategic Strait of Hormoz if it became the target of a military attack over its nuclear program. 

Strait of Hormoz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route. 

Meantime, a study by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a prestigious American think tank, has found that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities "is unlikely" to delay the country's civilian program. 

The ISIS study also cautioned that an attack against Iran would backfire by compelling the country to acquire nuclear weaponry. 

Also a study by a fellow at Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Caitlin Talmadge, warned that Iran could use mines as well as missiles to block the strait, and that "it could take many weeks, even months, to restore the full flow of commerce, and more time still for the oil markets to be convinced that stability had returned."