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Bahrain Says U.S. Not to Attack Iran

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Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Haled al-Halifa on Monday dismissed rumors that the United States plans to attack Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Haled al-Halifa on Monday dismissed rumors that the United States plans to attack Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

Tensions over Iran's nuclear activities have reached a boiling point since the Islamic Republic announced earlier this month that it had launched a nuclear enrichment program at a well-protected underground facility, Fordow, near the city of Qom.

“As for the possibility of an attack on Iran, we believe that during our meetings with U.S. officials we received acknowledgement that the United States does not back the idea of military intervention over the situation around Iran,” al-Halifa said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Bahrain has admitted Iran has the right to develop a peaceful nuclear program, al-Halifa added.

In late January, the Wall Street Journal said the Pentagon was stepping up efforts to make a bomb capable of destroying Iran's most heavily fortified underground facilities.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in an interview with The Wall Street Journal said new money was meant to ensure the weapon would be more effective against the deepest bunkers, including the Fordow enrichment plant facility.

Fordow is buried in a mountain complex in Iran surrounded by antiaircraft batteries, which makes it a very difficult target for air strikes.

Tehran said it began the project in 2007, but the IAEA believes design work started in 2006.

The existence of the facility only came to light after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009.

 

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