Iran Vows To Hit Back If U.S. Attacks

Iran's supreme leader said Thursday that if the United States were to attack Iran, the country would respond by striking U.S. interests all over the world — the latest sharp exchange in an escalating standoff between the two countries.

The comments by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came the same day that another top official, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, warned in a column in The New York Times that efforts to isolate Iran would backfire on the United States, increasing sectarian tensions in the volatile Middle East, including Iraq.

The United States and Iran have been in an increasingly tense standoff over Iran's nuclear program. The tensions have worsened recently because of U.S. allegations of Iranian influence in Iraq.

The United States has denied it has any plans to strike Iran militarily but has sent an additional aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in what U.S. officials call an effort to show strength in the face of rising Iranian regional influence.

Speaking to a gathering of Iranian air force commanders, Khamenei said: "The enemy knows well that any invasion would be followed by a comprehensive reaction to the invaders and their interests all over the world."

But one Iran expert believes Khamenei's remarks may be motivated primarily by domestic politics.

Bernie Kaussler, an associate fellow at the University of St. Andrews' Institute for Iranian Studies, tells CBSNews.com that Iran's supreme leader may be more interested in satisfying his core supporters than going to war with America.

Khamenei has been frequently at odds with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — whose fiery anti-U.S. rhetoric and aggressive politics with the West has represented a sharp divergence from Iranian policy of recent years.

Khamenei's own stance may more accurately reflect the will of the majority of Iranians; a desire to maintain the "political status quo, and not export the Islamic revolution," according to Kaussler.

But both men have to keep a very influential, and large, conservative religious constituency happy, and taking a tough stance on the U.S. is an effective means of achieving this goal.

In another sign of the tensions with the U.S., Iran's intelligence minister said Thursday the government had detected a network of U.S. and Israeli spies and had detained a second group of people who planned to go abroad for espionage training, state television reported. It gave few details.

The allegation comes just a few days after an Iranian diplomat was detained in Baghdad in an incident that Iran blamed on U.S. forces. The Americans have denied involvement in the diplomat's detention.

Iranian leaders often speak of a crushing response to any U.S. attack. While the remarks are seen as an attempt to drum up national support, Iran's position on Iraq and its nuclear program has provoked harsher international and especially U.S. pressure in recent months.

Kaussler cautions that Iranian "meddling" in Iraq — as it is often termed by the Bush administration — may not be as straightforward as Tehran handing over financial aid or weapons to Iraqi militants.

"There are so many players in Iranian politics, many times the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. That might well be the case," Kaussler explains. "It is possible that there are a few hotheads supplying weapons and support without the central government knowing."

President Bush has ordered American troops to act against Iranians suspected of being involved in the Iraqi insurgency in addition to deploying the second carrier.

The possibility of Iranian nationals — Kaussler acknowledges there are many radicalized Iranians willing to fight against Americans, in Iraq or anywhere — and U.S. forces facing each other on the battlefield in Iraq presents a very dangerous scenario.

An American soldier killed by an Iranian could provide President Bush with a legitimate reason to attack Iranian interests, Kaussler says. If that occurs, the situation could very quickly escalate into a conflict.

"Some people say that the U.S. president is not prone to calculating the consequences of his actions," Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state television, "but it is possible to bring this kind of person to wisdom."

"U.S. policymakers and analysts know that the Iranian nation would not let an invasion go without a response," Khamenei added.

Last week, a publication called Sobh-e Sadegh, the official publication of Iran's elite and hardline Revolutionary Guards, also warned against American attacks, pointing out that because the U.S. has large numbers of troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, central Asia and Europe, it would be easy to kidnap Americans in retaliation.

President Ahmadinejad has very close ties to his country's military, but his popularity among the Iranian masses has dwindled over domestic troubles, including rising inflation and a generally underperforming economy — due largely to isolation from the West.

Kaussler tells CBSNews.com that an attack by the U.S. that is in any way perceived as unprovoked or undue in the eyes of Iranians could be just what the hard-line president needs to validate his militant stance and cling to power.

In his talk Thursday, Khamenei also addressed rumors about his health — a subject that is rarely discussed openly in Iran. Last month, there was speculation that his health had deteriorated seriously.

"Enemies of the Islamic system fabricated various rumors about death and health to demoralize the Iranian nation, but they did not know that they are not dealing with only one person in Iran. They are facing a nation," Khamenei said.