TEHRAN, July 17: Iran’s national security chief said on Wednesday Tehran would defend its territory if attacked, as the nation readied for nationwide anti-US demonstrations on Friday following President George W. Bush’s recent statements.

“If a danger is threatening the country, we must join hands and face it,” Hassan Rowhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told reporters here.

“Iran is ready to defend its territory and independence,” Rowhani added, quoted by state radio, after Bush’s statement on July 12 urging Tehran to abandon “uncompromising” and “destructive policies”.

Bush said a “vast majority” of Iranians “voted for political and economic reform” in recent presidential, parliamentary and local elections. “Yet their voices are not being listened to by the unelected people who are the real rulers of Iran.”

He added that a reforming, modernizing Iran would have “no better friend” than the United States.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ally of the nation’s powerful conservatives, said on Wednesday the country would strike back “at the heart of the enemy” if attacked.

“We must be ready for a new aggression of the enemy and we must respond to this attack at the heart of the enemy territory,” Rafsanjani said, quoted in the afternoon press.

Rafsanjani said: “Our enemies lead a parasite-like life and are feeding on their colonies which is why they are vulnerable.”—AFP