Rafsanjani asks Iran to beware of 'US dangers'

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani yesterday urged Iran to preserve national unity and beware of being provoked in the face of the "dangers" posed by arch enemy the United States.
"They (the United States) made a big issue of the nuclear issue and they are mobilising public opinion, their Greater Middle East plan is still on the table," Rafsanjani told the opening session of Iran's Assembly of Experts.
"Because of the dangers threatening us, we should pay attention to the supreme leader's decree for national unity and Islamic cohesion," Rafsanjani told the body before it elected him its new chairman.
"Now they have started an anti-Shia wave and we should be careful not to fall into their traps," added Rafsanjani. "We should not let ourselves be provoked and give an excuse for the enemy."
Rafsanjani had been acting head of the Assembly of Experts, which supervises the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following the death in July of its chairman Ayatollah Ali Meshkini.
President from 1989-1997, Rafsanjani has always shown a strong pragmatic streak and his pleas for vigilance contrast with the more confrontational rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The president has repeatedly in recent weeks dismissed the prospect of US military action against Iran over its nuclear programmeme, saying he was confident this would never happen.
Washington accuses Tehran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- an allegation vehemently denied by the Islamic republic -- and has never ruled out taking military action against it.
Rafsanjani was soundly thrashed by Ahmadinejed in the 2005 presidential elections but made something of a comeback last year by polling the highest number of votes in the Assembly of Experts polls.
Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday issued a stark warning to the United States over the danger of launching a military attack, saying Washington could never foresee the size of its response against US troops in the region.
"The US will face three problems if it attacks Iran. Firstly it does not know the volume of our response," said General Rahim Yahya Safavi, the new special military adviser to supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
"Also it can not evaluate the vulnerability of its 200,000 troops in the region since we have accurately identified all of their camps," added Safavi, who stepped down last week as head of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Safavi also warned over how Iran's reaction to a US attack could affect Israel -- Tehran's regional arch foe -- and also crude oil supply from the world fourth largest producer.