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.