Middle East: Grave Mistake to Attack Iran, Warns Syria

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, warned yesterday that any attack on Iran's nuclear program would have grave consequences for the US, Israel and the whole world.

But Assad, Iran's most important Arab ally, also promised to discuss the issue with Tehran, suggesting that Syria, itself shunned by the US, could mediate in a crisis which has escalated, with Iranian and Israeli sabre-rattling in the last fortnight.

"It will cost the US and the planet dear," he told France Inter radio yesterday during his visit to Paris. "Israel will pay directly the price of this war. Iran has said so. The problem is that when one starts such action in the Middle East, one cannot manage ... reactions that can spread out over years or even decades."

Assad attacked the "warmonger's logic" of the Bush administration, but added: "We are going to have discussions with our Iranian friends to get to the heart of the matter. This is the first time that we had been asked to play a role."

There were also warnings from Hamid Karzai, the US-backed Afghan president. He told Radio Liberty that he did not want his country to be used to launch any attack on Iran. "Afghanistan wants to be a friend of Iran as a neighbor," Karzai said.

Last night Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said that he would welcome bilateral talks with the US if both parties were on "equal footing."

"When two people want to talk, both have to be on equal terms. Dialog doesn't make any sense if one side stands in a higher position and the other in a lower position," he said in a speech.

Iran denies planning to build nuclear weapons and claims its atomic program is for civilian energy. But the country is facing UN sanctions for refusing to comply with demands made by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog. Diplomatic activity continues, with talks scheduled this weekend between the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iran's nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

The five permanent members of the UN security council and Germany have offered Iran a package of incentives, including help generating nuclear power if it halts uranium enrichment - a process that can be used to build warheads. Tehran has insisted it will not do this.

The issue is controversial inside Iran. Ahmadinejad has hit back at criticism of his nuclear policy as "provocative". The criticism came from Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Velayati has said Iran should continue talks.