Israeli attack on Iran would be ‘unacceptable’: UN sec gen

TEHRAN,Sept.17(MNA) – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that a military attack on Iran over its nuclear program would be “unacceptable”. According to AFP, Ban made the remarks during an interview with the French program “Internationales” broadcast on Sunday in comments on the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. “An attack against a country is unacceptable and the idea of a counter attack isn’t acceptable either,” Ban stated. The UN secretary general added that he is “highly concerned by the political rhetoric over a possible military attack or a retaliation.” Israeli and certain Western officials have repeatedly said that a military option is on the table if diplomacy fails to resolve the dispute. And Iran has made it clear that it will give a crushing response to any attack by the West or Israel, which is widely believed to possess the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East. The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Iran says all its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a signatory to the NPT, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants. However, Iran’s right to uranium enrichment has not yet been recognized by the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany), which hold talks with Iran over its nuclear activities.