TEHRAN: Iran’s leaders will not back down in a dispute over their nuclear programme, even if that means facing sanctions or a US attack, Iranian analysts and official sources said on Thursday.

Counting on public support, buoyed by high oil prices and sensing American weakness following the invasion of neighbouring Iraq, the regime believes it is in a position of strength in the escalating crisis, they said.

“We would like diplomacy to prevail, but the Americans want to humiliate us, they want us to renounce our legitimate rights, and if we don’t they will attack,” commented a regime official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

With Iran refusing to accept limitations on its merely an atomic energy drive, “we expect the whole story to end with an American attack against Iran, and we are prepared for that,” said the source.

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday opened the way for Security Council action against Iran, which despite its denials is suspected of using an atomic energy drive as a mask for weapons development.

Unlike the IAEA, the Security Council has enforcement powers and can impose punitive measures, including sanctions. The aim is to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment work, which can provide the fuel for civilian reactors but also material for atomic weapons.

Iran maintains that nuclear fuel work for peaceful purposes is a right enshrined by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the tensions are leading the United States and its ally Israel to dangle the threat of military action.

“Iran will stand up against the United States,” said Mohammad Sadeq Al-Husieni, a political moderate in Iran and a Middle East analyst.

“Iranian officials are counting on public support. They have thought about a war, but... the US is weaker now than it was when it went to Iraq.”

Gholamreza Ghalandarian, managing director of the conservative Qods newspaper, said that although Iran “wants to continue negotiations... we will not allow our rights to be disregarded.”

“The nuclear issue is in reality a matter between Iran and the United States. The American’s latest plan in the greater Middle East is in reality a way to establish its domination on the region,” he argued.

“If the situation changes and we are faced with more restrictions, there would be no reason for us not to use our pressure levers. If this happens it will not be to the benefit of the US and the region,” said Ghalandarian.

The president of Iran’s conservative parliament, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, also highlighted how the regime sees the current dispute as part of a wider clash with the United States — and a problem that has dogged the regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled pro-US and Israel Shah’s government.

“The pressure being exerted by the Americans is an attack on our independence,” he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

According to the regime source, Iran was fully prepared for a eventual conflict — including using its clout in the region.

“If we wanted we could have made a lot of trouble for them in the region, in all the countries where they are operating, like Iraq or Afghanistan,” said the source.

“If they attack us we will hit their interests everywhere, in the region and elsewhere. Our forces are ready. We will bring them down from their superpower rank, Inshallah.”—AFP