Iran 'to retaliate if attacked from US bases in Gulf'

Iran warned on Sunday that it would strike US military bases in neighbouring Gulf states if they were used as staging posts to attack the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.

"We rule out the possibility that our neighbours... will allow the United States to use their territory in attacking Iran," Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel told reporters during an official visit to Kuwait.

"But if this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points" used to attack Iran, he said.

Adel said that some Gulf states, which he did not name, had assured Tehran that they would not allow their territory to be used in the event of an attack on Iran.

"Yes. Some countries in the region did," he said when asked if Gulf countries had given such assurances."Parliaments in some of these countries have even called for not allowing the United States to use its bases to attack Iran," said Adel, adding that this issue had not been discussed with Kuwaiti officials.

The Iranian speaker also said that Gulf states had now "learned many lessons from the US invasion of Iraq," in March 2003, and that "officials in the region are not likely to link their fate with US mistakes."

Earlier, Iranian deputy interior minister in charge of security issues Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr warned in Tehran that all US military bases in the Middle East were in range of Iranian missiles.

Iran has an array of medium-range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) which would put US bases on the Arabian peninsula within reach.

Washington has always said it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but has never ruled out using military action to bring Tehran to heel.