WarSclerotic

Iran’s president made a scathing and personal attack on U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday as an “inexperienced amateur” who was too quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against enemies of the United States.

Ahmadinejad lashed out after the United States unveiled new limits on use of the nation’s nuclear arsenal, but suggested that exceptions could be made for “outliers” such as Iran and North Korea, both accused by the West of flouting U.N. resolutions concerning their nuclear programs.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television. “American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Obama had made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after he took power in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist”.

But since then a confrontation has intensified over Iran’s nuclear activities which the West suspects aims to develop an atomic bomb and which Tehran says is for civilian use.

Obama has recently urged U.N. Security Council members to back new sanctions against Iran.

His changes to U.S. weapons policy were announced before a nuclear summit in Washington next week. He renounced the development of new atomic weapons and ruled out the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear armed states.

But this came with a condition. Countries would be spared a U.S. nuclear response only if they are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran and North Korea would thus not be protected and be potential targets.

“Yesterday some news was published saying that he (Obama) has threatened to use nuclear and biochemical weapons against countries that don’t comply with America and which do not yield to America’s pressure,” Ahmadinejad said. “We hope these reports are false.”

“Be careful. If you set step in Mr. (George W.) Bush’s path, the nations’ response would be the same tooth-breaking one as they gave Bush,” he added as crowds in the northwestern city of Orumieh cheered “Death to America.”

Iran will host its own Nuclear Disarmament Conference on April 17-18 which China, courted by Obama to support sanctions against Iran, has said it might attend.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for entirely peaceful ends, also repeated warnings to Israel not to attack.

“If they (Israel) attack Iran, possibly no trace will be left from the Zionist regime (Israel),” Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency.

Israel has hinted it could strike Iran in an effort to halt the nuclear activities. Iran has threatened to retaliate for any attack by firing missiles at Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal.

A deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the elite revolutionary Guards made similar threats on Tuesday.

The United States and its allies hope to get new sanctions imposed in the coming weeks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment work, after failing to reach a fuel-swap agreement with Tehran.

Iran, which says it needs nuclear technology to generate power and for medical reasons, says it would hand over its low-grade enriched uranium in return for higher-grade uranium, but the swap must be carried out inside the country under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy agency.

“We have a positive attitude towards the fuel swapping idea … provided it is done within Iran,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference on Wednesday.

Russia, which, like China, is under intense Western pressure to support tougher U.N. sanctions has so far failed to deliver a S-300 anti-aircraft system Iran has ordered, a move which has irritated Iranian officials.

But Defence Minister Vahidi said Russia had no intention of breaking the agreement to sell the missile system. “Russia is committed to our agreements over the S-300 system. They have told us that the system will be delivered to Iran on time.”

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and travels at more than 2 km per second.