Iran says U.S. is not in a position to take military action against it

TEHRAN, Iran -- The Iranian foreign minister said Saturday the United States was in no position for another war, and maintained that negotiations -- not threats -- were the only way to resolve the standoff over its nuclear activities.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was responding to Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

Mottaki said the United States could not afford to settle its differences with Iran by launching a third war after Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We do not see America in a position to impose another crisis on its taxpayers inside America by starting another war in the region," Mottaki told reporters.

The United States and several of its Western allies fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon -- charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Thursday that Iran had ignored a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze its uranium enrichment program and had expanded the program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.

Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb.

The IAEA report came after Wednesday's deadline of a 60-day grace period for Iran to halt uranium enrichment. Iran has repeatedly refused to halt enrichment as a precondition to negotiations about its program.

Mottaki urged the United States and its allies to return to dialogue when they are scheduled to meet in London next week.

"The only way to reach a solution for disputes is negotiations and talks. Therefore, we want the London meeting to make a brave decision and resume talks with Iran," Mottaki said.

Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and a Democratic presidential candidate, on Saturday also urged the Bush administration to negotiate directly with Iran.

"Saber-rattling is not a good way to get the Iranians to cooperate," Richardson wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. "But it is a good way to start a new war."

Iran, Richardson wrote, "will not end their nuclear program because we threaten them and call them names."

Separately, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said it killed 17 mercenary fighters on its border with Turkey and accused the United States and its allies of seeking to provoke tensions along the country's frontiers.

In a statement, the Guards said 17 "counterrevolutionary mercenaries" were killed, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Saturday.

The Guards chief, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, said the United States, Britain and Israel were seeking to incite tension on Iran's borders to undermine its government, IRNA reported.

"Iran's enemies, through hiring some mercenaries and with their wishful thinking, want to create instability but ... the armed forces will strongly suppress anti-revolutionaries and rebels who are dependent to foreigners," Safavi was quoted as saying.