Tehran,
Iran (CNN) -- The supreme leader of Iran issued a blunt warning Friday
that war would be detrimental to the United States -- and that Iran is
ready to help anyone who confronts "cancerous" Israel.
"You see
every now and then in this way they say that all options are on the
table. That means even the option of war," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
during Friday prayers in Tehran. "This is how they make these threats
against us.
"Well, these kinds of threats are detrimental to the
U.S.," he said. "The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the
U.S."
Khamenei's rhetoric is hardly new. But the timing of his comments could prove critical with nuclear talks around the corner.
Tensions
between Iran and world powers have been ratcheted up in the aftermath
of an alarming nuclear watchdog agency report in November that said
Tehran was likely developing nuclear weapons.
The standoff grew
more serious this week with renewed fears of an Israeli pre-emptive
strike on Iran to take out its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Khamenei said Iran will support any nation or group that stands up against Israel.
"The
Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it
needs to be removed and will be removed," Khamenei said to a cheering
crowd.
He said Iran doesn't interfere in other nations but has
aided militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah in conflicts with Israel in
Gaza and Lebanon.
His comments came after stern comments Friday from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
"Today,
unlike in the past, there is a broad global understanding that it is
crucial to stop Iran becoming nuclearized and that no options should be
taken off the table," he said.
Barak said allowing Iran to
continue on its path will be far more complex and dangerous in blood and
money than cutting it off now.
"Those who say in English, 'later,' may find later is too late," he said.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he feared Israel could attack Iran
sometime this spring in an effort to destroy its suspected nuclear
weapons program, according to a senior administration official.
The official declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.
The
United States and its allies have warned that Iran is trying to make a
nuclear weapon. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian
energy purposes.
A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center
said the United States needs to put more teeth into its threat to use
military power against Iran.
The Washington think tank
recommended in its report that Washington should undertake visible,
credible military preparations to go along with more intense sanctions
and diplomatic efforts.
The military activities could include naval deployments, military exercises and positioning supplies in the region.
To
stop Iran's nuclear clock, the report said, the United States "needs to
make clear that Iran faces a choice: it can either abandon its nuclear
program through a negotiated arrangement or have its program destroyed
militarily, by the United States."
The report also said the
United States should give credibility to the Israeli military threat
against Iran by selling Israel two to three KC-135 aerial refueling
tankers and 200 GRU-31 bunker-buster munitions.
Former Sen. Chuck
Robb, who co-chaired the task force that wrote the report, said the
group advocates neither war nor a military strike at the moment, but
believes the United States will only be effective if it takes credible
steps to let Iran know it is serious.
Pentagon spokesman Capt.
John Kirby said Panetta "has made it clear that he is comfortable with
the military capabilities we have and operate in the region."
However,
Kirby said, "the U.S. military must and will be ready to provide the
president options should those options be desirable."
Khamenei
blamed Western powers for Iran's troubles, starting with the brutal
eight-year war Iran fought with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s and
continuing with the latest round of punishing international sanctions.
"So
far we have overcome all these challenges and none of them managed to
bring (Iran) to its knees," Khamenei said. "We have stood firm and
strongly treaded our course
