August 1, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

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TEHRAN, July 31: Iran’s army chief said on Wednesday his forces had been told to make preparations for a possible attack by the United States on the Islamic Republic, which Washington has accused of supporting terrorism.

Joint chief of staff General Hassan Firouzabadi told reporters Iran’s top security decision-making body had recently discussed “enemy threats”, state television said.

He said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and chief commander of the armed forces, had told the army and the elite Revolutionary Guards to “get ready for two main tasks”.

“The first is to make ready our arsenal for deterrent purposes. Secondly, if something comes up, we should be quickly able to punish the source of aggression,” the general added.

The television said his remarks were in reaction to “recent US threats”.

Some US officials and congressmen have called for a change of regime in Iran in response to what they see as President Mohammad Khatami’s failure to bring in reforms.

But a US State Department official dismissed on Tuesday as “hypothetical” talk of a possible pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear plant in the southern port of Bushehr.—Reuters