BERLIN, May 31: Iran does not believe the United States will attack it, although it does think Washington has demonized Tehran unjustly, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told a German magazine.

“Unlike Iraq under Saddam we are not a dictatorship, but a democracy. Furthermore we are not disregarding any international laws. So we are not worried about being the next victim of a military strike,” Kharrazi told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview released on Saturday.

Hawks in the Bush administration have turned their sights on Iran since the occupation of Iraq, some media speculating the Defence Department was advocating covert action to overthrow the Iranian government as the only way to stop the country’s suspected nuclear programme, which Washington alleges is for making bombs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has charged Tehran is not doing enough against Al Qaeda members allegedly in Iran.—Reuters