Iran alerts its forces

Iran alerts its forces

TEHRAN (AFP): Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
called on his armed forces yesterday to prepare for possible
"enemy" attacks on the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988
war against neighboring Iraq.

"Iran's enemies have entered the foray in economic and
cultural areas and imposed an embargo on us to strike a blow,"
Rafsanjani said, referring to the U.S. economic sanctions imposed
on Iran in June 1995 and tightened in August.

"The army should be in a permanent state of defense as the
enemies want to impose an arms embargo on Iran," he said in a
speech marking the 16th anniversary of the start of the war.

Iran organizes the "Defense Week" each year to commemorate the
1980-1988 war against Iraq and for the first time since the end
of the conflict the country is holding military parades in
various cities this year.

"We should we ever vigilant because the enemies have not
learned a lesson from history," he told a crowd at Tehran's Azadi
square, in apparent allusion to the Iraqi invasion of its
Kurdish-held north late last month and the ensuing U.S. missile
attack on Iraq.

After Rafsanjani's speech, units of armored divisions as well
as various ground-to-ground and ground-to-air missiles were
paraded in front of the official stand. But no new equipments
were displayed.

Iraqi forces invaded Iran on Sept. 21, 1980, more than one
year after the Shiite Moslem revolution here and ended eight
years later in a virtual stalemate.