Israel weak, Iranian defense minister says

TEHRAN, April 7 (UPI) -- There may be nothing left of Israel if Iran were forced to respond to a military attack, the Iranian defense minister said Wednesday.

Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi told reporters Wednesday that the Israeli military was too weak to launch strikes on his country.

"If the move is carried out (by Israel), Iran's reaction may be so that there (will be) nothing of the (Israeli) regime," he was quoted in the Iranian Students' News Agency as saying.

Vahidi is linked by Interpol to the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994.

Meanwhile, Mojtaba Zolnour, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Israel should have second thoughts about striking Iran.

"They know that, if they try their luck and lob a single missile towards Iran, before the dust clears here, the dust of our missiles will rise from the heart of Tel Aviv," he said.

Israel has left the military option on the table as the controversy over the Iranian nuclear program intensifies.

Iran announced plans during the weekend to hold a two-day conference on nuclear issues. Tehran said it invited 60 countries to take part in the summit scheduled to begin April 17.

U.N. inspectors, however, are said to be suspicious about plans announced in February by Iranian nuclear officials to build two new nuclear plants "inside mountains."