Tehran, July 12
Iran warned the United States and Israel on Saturday that it would be "madness" to attack the Islamic Republic over a nuclear programme which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

The comments by government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham came a few days after Iranian missile tests heightened regional tension and helped send world oil prices to record highs.

Israel staged an air force exercise last month that stoked speculation about a possible assault on Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, has vowed to strike back at Tel Aviv and the U.S. if it is attacked, threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about 40 per cent of globally traded oil.

"We do not imagine that anybody would commit such madness and stupidity ... and nobody has the power to make such aggression," state broadcaster IRIB quoted Elham as saying.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is not a threat at all and will not accept any threats," he added.

Iran says its nuclear projects are aimed only at generating electricity. Western nations and Israel fear the Islamic Republic is seeking to build bombs.

Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.

Analysts say any U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran would be limited to air strikes, rather than a full-scale attack with the U.S. ground forces tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, is expected to meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Geneva on July 19 for talks on the long-running dispute. — Reuters

Washington, July 12
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has said the elusive Al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, should be executed if captured alive.

"If he was captured alive, then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of not only US justice, but world justice down on him," 47-year-old Obama said in an interview to CNN, excerpts of which were released by the network yesterday.

He said the actions of Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, justified capital punishment.

"I am not a cheerleader for death penalty. I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes," Obama said. "But I certainly think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach," he said.

"I think this is a big hypothetical, though - let's catch him first," he was quoted as saying.

In the wide-ranging interview, Obama said the US had "failed to seriously go after the Al-Qaida over the last five years because of the distraction of Iraq” and said “ I think we are now seeing the consequences of that in Afghanistan".

The Illinois Senator also criticised Afghan President Hamid Karzai for failing to bring order to his country. "I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker, and helped to organise Afghanistan, its government, judiciary, police forces in ways that would give people confidence," he said.

"So there are a lot of problems there. But a big chunk of the issue is that we allowed the Taliban and Al-Qaida to regenerate when we had them on the ropes. That was a big mistake, and it's one I'm going to correct when I’m President," Obama said in the interview to be broadcast tomorrow. — PTI

Dubai, July 12
Iran has released 22 Indian crew members of Saudi fishing boats seized last week after the vessels allegedly strayed into its waters near its first under-construction nuclear power plant.

“Iran on Thursday released five vessels which were held for two weeks after they entered Iranian territorial waters,” said the head of the Saudi border guard in the Eastern province, Gen Abdurrahman al-Brahim.

According to al-Brahim, the boats and the 22 Indian crew on board returned “safely” to Darin, on the Saudi east coast, Iranian ‘Press TV’ reported.

The move came after Saudi authorities released two Iranian vessels, which were seized after they entered the kingdom’s territorial waters on Wednesday.

Earlier reports said that the boats from Saudi Arabia and had 17 Indian nationals on board. “Bushehr sea-guard patrols stopped four foreign fishing boats on the strength of border violation and illegal fishing on Iranian waters,” Reza Mohmmadi-Yeganeh, police commander of Iran’s Bushehr province was quoted as saying on July 3.

The boats were seized around 30 nautical miles from the tightly-guarded Bushehr nuclear plant, off Iran’s coast, which is being completed by a Russian firm despite opposition from the west and is due to be commissioned later this year. — PTI

In yet another rebellion against what they claim as “rampant ill-treatment and discrimination”, over 500 junior police personnel on Saturday seized the Riot Control Battalion and Mid-western Regional Company of Nepal Police Nepalgunj Municipality at Banke in mid-western Nepal and held at least six commanders hostages.

According to a local correspondent of The Kathmandu Post, the riot junior police personnel resorted to this action protesting against their senior officers on charge of ill-treatment, poor quality of ration, among others.

Following the incident, Nepalgunj area remained tense as the rebel policemen also fired over 15 rounds into the air.

Those taken into hostages include police chief for Bheri zone, SSP Parshuram Khatri, Banke police chief Ghanashyam Bhatta, chief of the Riot Control Battalion Akhtar Alim Ansari, and chief of Mid-western Regional Company Sudip Acharya.

The senior police officials had apparently reached the battalion complex for morning exercise. The agitators, after barging into the area, fired gunshots into the air and took them captive. Some of the police officials were reportedly assaulted.

Washington, July 12
A leading think tank has advised the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the US Congress not to take a hasty decision on the Indo-US nuclear deal, given the “dangerous” ramifications of the agreement for non-proliferation efforts.

“India and the Bush Administration had played fast and loose in negotiating this agreement, disregarding the clear conditions that Congress had stipulated,” Leonor Tomero, director of the nuclear non-proliferation at the centre for arms control and non-proliferation, said in a statement. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Pioneering heart surgeon DeBakey dies at 99
HOUSTON: Dr Michael DeBakey, a pioneering heart surgeon who shot to fame for his procedures developing bypass surgery, has died at the age of 99. Internationally acclaimed as the father of modern cardiovascular surgery and considered by many to be the greatest surgeon ever, DeBakey died of "natural causes" on Friday, according to a statement issued on Saturday by spokesmen for the Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital. DeBakey underwent surgery in February 2006 for a damaged aorta - a procedure he had developed. — PTI

Bhutan PM to visit India
THIMPHU: Bhutan’s first democratically elected Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley will embark on a four-day visit to India on Monday, his first trip abroad after assuming power in April, to strengthen economic cooperation between the age-old allies, especially in the power sector. Foreign affairs minister Ugyen Tshering, economic affairs minister Khandu Wangchuck and finance minister Wangdi Norbu will be among the 42 delegates who will accompany Thinley. — PTI

China executes 2, jails 15
BEIJING: China has executed two Uighurs and sentenced 15 others to jail for alleged terrorist links, the US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) said in a report just days after Beijing warned of attacks aimed at the Olympics. The Kashgar Intermediate People's Court sentenced two men - Mukhtar Setiwaldi and Abduweli Imin - to death and immediately executed them after a July 9 public trial in the Yengi Sheher county, said RFA. — Reuters