October 7, 2002	Monday	Rajab 29, 1423

KUWAIT, Oct 6: Iran does not expect Washington to attack it and will turn a blind eye if US warplanes unintentionally enter its airspace while waging war on neighbouring Iraq, its defence minister was quoted as saying.

“I believe that the probability of America attacking Iran is very weak,” Defence Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani said in an interview published on Sunday in Kuwait’s al-Rai al-Aam daily.

The United States has described Iran as part of a global “axis of evil” along with North Korea and Iraq.

When asked about the possibility of US warplanes entering Iranian airspace in the event of a war against Iraq, Shamkhani said: “We do not consider the forced and unharmful entry into our airspace by any country as an act of enmity.”

The minister last week hosted talks with Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah of Kuwait, a base for US forces and a likely launchpad of any attack on Iraq.

Iran says it is opposed to a US attack on Iraq and the presence of foreign forces in the vital oil-rich region. It has called on Gulf Arab neighbours to jointly assume the responsibility of security in the waterway and the area.

Officials in Tehran describe their policy on Iraq as one of “active neutrality” and have said they will not be drawn into any conflict.

The US cut diplomatic ties with Iran after students seized its embassy in Tehran in 1979 following the Islamic revolution.—Reuters