[Telegraph-UK] Anton La Guardia - Iran repeatedly threatened to "harm Western interests" in the Middle East during its nuclear talks with European officials, heightening Western suspicions that it had a hand in stoking the crisis in Lebanon. A senior European source said that the last threat was made on July 11, the eve of Hizballah's provocative cross-border attack and kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. Ali Larijani, the Iranian envoy, is said to have warned European negotiators during abortive talks in Brussels that "you will suffer" if the Iranian nuclear issue was taken back to the UN Security Council. Larijani, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, then traveled straight to Damascus. The next day, as fighting broke out in Lebanon, Larijani met representatives of Hizballah and Hamas, who staged a similar attack near the Gaza Strip three weeks earlier.
2006-07-21 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive