Iran's Ahmadinejad
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US warship in Persian Gulf
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Iran sees US plot to topple its leadership
Islamic Republic minister says America has dropped the idea of attacking but wanted to topple country’s leadership through ‘soft revolution’ with the help of intellectuals
An Iranian minister said he believed the United States had dropped the idea of attacking Iran but wanted to topple its leadership through what he called a "soft revolution".
Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, a cleric, said Iran's enemies had waged "psychological warfare" to prepare for military action against the Islamic Republic.
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In comments carried on Wednesday by the government-owned Iran daily, he suggested the country's successful defense against Iraqi forces during the 1980-88 war and more recent US setbacks in Iraq had however forced the Americans to rethink.
"The resistance of the Iranian nation during the eight years of holy war and the defeat of the enemies in the Middle East caused the Global Arrogance (the United States) to put aside the option of a military attack against Iran," he said.
The United States accuses Iran of fomenting instability in Iraq. Iran blames the presence of US forces for the violence threatening to tear its neighbor apart. Washington and Tehran are also at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear program.
'This plot will not be successful'
Iranian, US and Iraqi officials on Monday held the first meeting of a joint committee aimed at easing Iraq's security crisis which they agreed to set up during landmark talks in Baghdad that began in May.
Tehran has kept up its fierce anti-US rhetoric despite the two old foes holding their highest profile face-to-face dialogue since Washington cut ties after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran's detentions this year of four Iranian-Americans, and last month's televised "confessions" of two of them, have further stoked tension.
The US administration, which believes Tehran is seeking to build atom bombs, says it would prefer a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff but has not ruled out military action.
Iran, which insists its nuclear program is solely aimed at generating electricity, has threatened to retaliate if attacked.
It says Washington is working for a "soft revolution" in Iran with the help of intellectuals and others in the country.
Mohseni-Ejei listed what he said were plans by the United States and its allies to undermine and discredit Iran's leaders:
"The first one which the Americans are leading ... is to create disputes and divisions among the revolutionary forces."
He said they were also trying to portray the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West and Israel, as "useless in order to ready the ground for the entrance of some of their own elements into the government."
But, Mohseni-Ejei said: "This plot will not be successful."
