Iran vows retaliation over threats

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and Leon Panetta (R)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday Iran would retaliate over Western-backed oil sanctions and any threat of attack, after US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta was cited as saying he feared a possible Israeli strike as early as April.
Meanwhile, a key US Senate panel adopted a sweeping package of tough new sanctions Thursday aimed at forcing Iran to freeze its suspect nuclear program amid escalating worries of a military confrontation.
The legislation targets Iran's national oil and tanker firms, its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and would for the first time widen sanctions on Iran's energy sector to any joint venture anywhere in the world where Iran's government is a substantial partner or investor.
Khamenei's defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the first direct response to tighter sanctions imposed by the West in recent weeks to force Tehran to abandon a nuclear programme it says has purely peaceful ends.
"Threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America ... Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course ... In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time," Khamenei told worshippers in a speech broadcast live on state television.
"I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel)."
US media reports said US Defence Secretary Panetta believed there was a growing possibility Israel would attack Iran as early as April to stop it building a nuclear bomb.
The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that Panetta was concerned about an increased likelihood Israel would launch an attack over the next few months. CNN said it confirmed the report, citing a senior Obama administration official, who declined to be identified.
The Post said the postponement of a joint US-Israeli military exercise that had been scheduled for this spring may have signalled the prospect of an Israeli attack soon.
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday launched an observation satellite into orbit above Earth, its third since 2009, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The launch comes as Iran is marking the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution -- and as tensions are heating up over Iran's nuclear programme.